XI’AN: Police in the northern Chinese city of Xi’an in Shaanxi Province have arrested dozens of people for spreading “rumors” online after the authorities banned the city’s 13 million residents from posting negative reports from coronavirus lockdown.
The string of other arrests suggests growing public anger over restrictions that have left many without access to adequate food, daily necessities, and urgent medical care, according to Radio Free Asia. Further hospitals were sometimes not even admitting people who were able to provide a green health code on China’s COVID-19 tracker app, which has crashed on a number of occasions amid a huge spike in traffic as lockdown regulations barred anyone from moving around the city without a green code, according to RFA sources.
Many account holders are being investigated for reporting “false diagnosis of cases” during the two-week lockdown, during which thousands of residents have been forcibly removed from the city to stay in out-of-town quarantine centers and others have been forced to stay home and denied medical treatment, as per Radio Free Asia.
Xi’an residents have repeatedly taken to social media during lockdown to complain that isolation rules are being enforced so strictly that they have been unable to buy sufficient food or daily necessities, with some reporting being turned away from hospitals with dire consequences.
In sweeping restrictions, China in December last year locked down the entire 13 million residents of the Xi’an city after the COVID-19 cluster was found in the area.
On the other hand, Netizens have written they are facing all sorts of difficulties including non-availability of food in their houses, financial difficulties due to no work in China’s Xi’an city. Despite many hashtags and posts on Weibo, Xi’an citizens are unable to buy groceries and other products for their daily needs.
Further during the found of lockdowns, Xi’an citizens have come out and asked for help despite promises by various state organs. (ANI)
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