As Shijiazhuang, the capital of China’s Hebei province, initiated a “city closure” due to an increase in the number of cases of the Xin Guan (Chinese Communist virus) epidemic, the government of the city’s Gaocheng district, Meihua, issued a notice to combat what authorities described as “underground Catholic forces,” according to international media on Jan. 9. The announcement was made by the government of the city’s Gaocheng district. The campaign calls for the closure and banning of “illegal activity sites” and the “local education and conversion” of underground Catholic clergy, among other things. However, the official Catholic Church in Shijiazhuang issued a statement denying that the outbreak in Shijiazhuang was linked to the Catholic Church.
As the number of newly crowned infections in Shijiazhuang increases, the city of 11 million people has launched a city-wide virus sweep, and roads, railroads and flights have been completely shut down. The city authorities have also banned all public gatherings.
Gao Fu, director of the Chinese CDC, has led a team of experts to Hebei on Jan. 5 to guide the prevention and control of the outbreak.
At the same time as the “city closure” was launched in Gaocheng District on January 6, the government of Meifa Township and the Meifa Police Station of the Gaocheng District Public Security Bureau issued a circular to “control the Catholic underground forces according to the law”.
The announcement did not directly link the special operation to the outbreak of the new crown epidemic in the area, nor did it mention the epidemic.
Hebei is the Catholic heartland of China. Some Catholics here attend officially recognized Catholic churches, while others attend underground church meetings.
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