Reports About Closed COVID-19 Mass Quarantine Centers Attract International Attention

Many empty buildings in China after zero-COVID policy was dropped

Workers building a makeshift hospital that will be used for COVID-19 patients in China's southwestern city of Chongqing on Nov. 22, 2022. CNS/AFP via Getty Images

The Chinese communist regime’s draconian “zero-COVID” policy has caused a substantial secondary disaster. Since the regime suddenly lifted all the COVID-19 control measures in December 2022, the future of the mass quarantine centers that cost tens of billions of dollars to build has attracted wide attention. 

Satellite images show that many centralized quarantine facilities, known as “mobile cabin hospitals,” despite not having medical treatment capability—just for quarantine—have been abandoned across China, as reported by international media outlet Al Jazeera on March 23.

In February, social media posts and viral videos indicated that the largest COVID-19 quarantine center in Shandong Province had been demolished. The authorities quickly deleted other related reports. Some netizens posted photos and videos of the ruins of the quarantine center, causing public lament about the colossal waste of taxpayers’ money.

According to an official announcement, the 12th to 21st phases of the national debt plan of Shandong Province in 2022 were to invest 23 billion yuan (about $3.35 billion) in the construction of 119 quarantine centers that would provide 200,000 beds.

On Nov. 30, 2022, the second and third phases of the 150,000-square-meter Jinan quarantine center were completed. It had 8,000 beds and could accommodate 11,000 people in quarantine. However, on Dec. 7, 2022, the Chinese regime suddenly abandoned the zero-COVID policy. This largest quarantine center in Shandong Province, which the local government went into debt to build, was demolished just two months after it was completed.

Tens of Billions Spent on COVID in 2022

In late February, authorities in 22 provinces publicized their 2022 fiscal expenditures. The total cost of COVID-19 control in 22 provinces was 421.9 billion yuan (about $61.4 billion), including building quarantine centers, PCR testing, and paying pandemic control personnel. 

The three provinces that spent the most on COVID-19 measures were Guangdong, Henan, and Zhejiang, at 71.14 billion yuan (about $10.36 billion), 48.93 billion yuan (about $7.12 billion), and 43.51 billion yuan ($6.3 billion), respectively. Thirteen other provinces and cities spent more than 10 billion yuan (about $1.46 billion) on COVID-19 control last year.

Since the Chinese regime abandoned its zero-COVID policy, tens of thousands of mass quarantine centers and countless PCR testing stations disappeared seemingly overnight. Some of the smaller PCR testing booths were auctioned off online, and some were repurposed. Many abandoned large quarantine centers remain empty.

For example, the temporary PCR testing room in front of the Suzhou Railway Station has been turned into a lunch room for the police. A nearby PCR testing site has become a “job-search information station.”

Employees set up a makeshift hospital that will be used for COVID-19 patients in Guangzhou, in China's eastern Guangdong Province, on April 11, 2022. (AFP) / China OUT)

The Epoch Times recently obtained an internal document issued by the COVID-19 joint prevention and control team of the regime’s State Council on Dec. 16, 2022, titled “Notice on Continuing to Keep the Number and Scale of Quarantine Centers and Nucleic Acid Sampling Points“ (Comprehensive Issue of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism [2022] No.135) (No.: 12212317). It states that the country ”shall not arbitrarily cancel or close the quarantine centers and COVID-19 PCR testing sites, and shall not dismantle the quarantine centers.”

Regarding the future of the empty quarantine centers throughout China, Arendse Huld, an editor at the business-intelligence website and magazine China Briefing, told Al Jazeera that authorities may find it challenging to make the quarantine centers economically viable if converted to other uses, which could include hotels, office buildings, shopfronts, warehouses, expo centers, and even parking lots.

“These facilities were not made to be permanent, and so it seems unlikely that they will really have much longevity,” Huld said.