Southern China City Back in Lockdown Over CCP Virus Outbreak

Residents are tested for COVID-19 in Ruili in southwestern China's Yunnan Province on Sept. 15, 2020. STR/AFP via Getty Images

Recently, the CCP virus pandemic worsened sharply in Ruili city, Dehong prefecture, in southwestern China’s Yunnan province. Currently, the city is placed under lockdown with residents quarantined at home. All traffic routes leading to the city have been suspended.

China’s state media reports say three high-risk and six medium-risk areas have been designated in the city as of Monday evening.

On April 4, the Yunnan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported 15 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and five asymptomatic cases following a nuclear acid testing drive aimed at local target groups and their close contacts, based on domestic media outlets.

So far, both the confirmed cases and asymptomatic infections have exceeded 50, the notice said.

However, official figures from Chinese authorities are widely deemed untrue and questionable as the CCP regime consistently lies around sensitive issues.

Moreover, a second nuclear acid testing drive will be conducted in Ruili from April 6 onwards to curb the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, according to China’s state broadcaster CCTV. And residents who had visited Jiegaoyu city, a jade market in one of the high-risk areas, between March 15 and 29, are also required to be put under home quarantine.

A video uploaded to Twitter suggests the construction of a large makeshift quarantine center able to house more than 1,000 cells is underway, located on a hill nearby Jingcheng residential community and a golf course.

A source revealed that control over residential areas has been tightened, and that all entrances are blocked and guarded. Without a permit granted by a local grid administrator, no resident can leave home or go out for shopping. Every day, some residents are taken away for centralized quarantine.

Neither a police officer nor a civil servant, a grind administrator can inspect homes of residents at any time of the day, gather and report personal data, and restrict their daily activities, according to Bitter Winter, an Italy-based magazine on human rights and religious liberty.

Grid administrators are a unique feature in the CCP’s ubiquitous system of surveilling its citizens, especially religious believers, dissidents, activists, and petitioners.

The pandemic in Ruili may get complicated due to illegal migrant crossings from Burma, which borders Ruili and has fallen into unrest and bloodshed after the Burma military staged a coup in early February 2021.

Moreover, new COVID-19 asymptomatic infections were also reported in Gengma county of Lincang city, Yunnan province on April 3. County authorities ordered a one-week suspension of services in downtown Mengding, Qingshuihe area, and Mengding Farm, involving karaoke venues, bars, internet cafés, bath centers, massage parlors, tourist sites, libraries, cinemas, hotels, training centers, fitness centers, and more.