China’s communist regime has locked down more cities and districts with fewer announcements amid increasing public criticism of its strict zero-COVID measures.
Under the regime’s zero-COVID policy, a single case could cause a whole neighborhood, district, or city to be shut down.
Officials in Wuhan’s Jiang'an district issued a notice on Oct. 31 stating that beginning on Nov. 1, there would be five days of lockdown to curb COVID-19. Many people fled the city overnight after hearing the announcement, causing traffic jams. In the early morning of Nov. 1, many residents were still lining up to buy food and supplies to prepare for the sudden lockdown, emptying the shelves of major supermarkets.
Mr. Wu, a resident of the Jianghan district of Wuhan who didn’t give his full name for fear of reprisal, told The Epoch Times that on Nov. 1, there were no new cases in the community where he lived. However, it was also shut down. A notice stated that it will be closed for three to five days.
“I read the official announcement every day, and I haven’t seen any newly infected patients living in our streets, but our community is still locked down, and I don’t know if there was an internal report that wasn’t announced to the public or it’s the result of layers of political orders,” he said.
Wu also revealed that the lockdowns in Wuhan have been escalating in recent days, reminding him of the full lockdown when the virus first broke out in the city in early 2020. Many communities that hadn’t been shut down before have been locked down.
He said he got inside information that the Hubei provincial government held an emergency meeting last weekend to discuss a large-scale lockdown in Wuhan. On Nov. 5, the World Wetland Ecological Environment Protection and Development Conference will be held in Wuhan, and the elimination of COVID-19 in Wuhan hasn’t been achieved. He believes that the escalation of the lockdown is related to the event.
Another Wuhan resident also told The Epoch Times that Wuhan has been locked down on a larger scale in the past few days, even without public announcements.
The resident showed a screenshot of an internal document to The Epoch Times that shows that Union Hospital, which is affiliated with Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Jianghan District, was shut down at 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 26. Nobody was allowed to enter or leave because a staff member in the cafeteria tested positive for COVID-19.
According to the official website of the hospital, medical services such as outpatient and emergency services, fever clinics, health examinations, and other medical services in the main hospital area were suspended on Oct. 26. As for when the services will be resumed, the public will be notified later.
Covert Lockdowns Across the Country
According to a report from minghui.org, as early as Oct. 20, Wuhan was locked down for three days, shutting off all stores and residential communities, leaving only banks, gas stations, and pharmacies open. Qiaokou district has also been shut down. In Hanyang district, there were outbreaks reported on Oct. 23. Several areas in the district, such as Hanzheng Street and Tongji Hospital, have been locked down. After the initial three days of lockdown, it continued in Qiaokou District.Authorities have locked down China’s northeastern city of Mudanjiang in Heilongjiang Province since Oct. 28.
