In the face of a rebound of the epidemic in many parts of China and a spate of local outbreaks in Beijing, the city has ordered public officials to stay in Beijing for the holiday season and citizens to “spend the holidays in place. The Chinese government has also issued a document calling for a reduction in the movement of people and gatherings during the New Year’s Day and Spring Festival, and “strict precautions”. Concerns have been raised about whether the annual Spring Festival, which affects hundreds of millions of people for 40 days, will be affected.
Some cities in China have recently seen confirmed local cases, especially in the northeastern metropolis of Dalian, the heaviest. Officials reported on the 25th that 14 new cases have been confirmed in China, including seven from Dalian, Liaoning Province, where local cases have been reported for several days, with more than 20 people asymptomatic as of the 22nd, according to authorities. Dalian has declared a “state of war” and all public places and stores in the Jinpu New District have been closed, while primary and secondary schools and kindergartens are closed. Authorities have asked all residents of Dalian not to leave the area unless necessary. There have been reports of horrific scenes in Dalian where residents’ houses have been nailed shut to prevent exodus.
According to several Chinese media reports, an employee of Asiana office in Chaoyang District was diagnosed as asymptomatic in South Korea on the 24th, and Chaoyang District has closed the square and apartment where the case company is located to control the entry and exit of people. Previously, according to the Beijing CDC on the 24th, two new cases of asymptomatic infection were reported in Shunyi District and Xicheng District.
Beijing government spokesman Xu Hejian said on the 25th that the epidemic in Beijing has emerged as a sporadic case at multiple points and the epidemic is facing a “big test” for prevention and control. Cai Qi, secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and head of the Leading Group for Prevention and Control, held a meeting on the 23rd, asking government personnel and staff of state-owned enterprises and institutions to “take the lead in Beijing for the holidays” and to advocate “not to leave Beijing unless necessary” and to The authorities also advocated the public to “not leave Beijing unless necessary” and “not to leave the country unless necessary”. The authorities also advocate the public to “spend the holiday locally”, “strict travel control in and out of Beijing”, require Beijing units to promote flexible leave, guide people to leave and return to Beijing at the wrong time, etc.
Beijing authorities also requested strict implementation of the 14+7 quarantine measures, that is, after 14 days of centralized medical observation, for the flight or articles found positive in the same flight to continue to implement 7 days of home or centralized medical observation measures, no case of flight to continue to implement 7 days of community health monitoring, and advocate no need to go out.
Beijing Prevention and Control Office on the 25th on the network about Beijing announced to enter a “state of war” to “debunk”, the network circulated information said: foreign people into Beijing, including those returning to Beijing out of isolation 21 days. In addition to the 21-day medical observation period, those returning to Beijing must also hold a negative nucleic acid test certificate within 7 days.
In addition, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China also issued a document on the 24th requiring “unrelenting efforts to prevent and control the epidemic” during the New Year’s Day and Spring Festival. The document said that the movement and gathering of people during the New Year’s Day and Spring Festival should be reduced, and strict precautions should be taken to ensure “no large-scale importation and rebound”.
In view of this, some analysts believe that Chinese officials may take some degree of crowd restriction measures during the Chinese New Year’s Day and Spring Festival, which annually affects hundreds of millions of people, may be affected. The Spring Festival of 2021 is said to begin on January 28 and end on March 8.
Why such strict control? From the above notice emphasizes that next year is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, is also the “14th Five-Year Plan” the opening year can be seen. The Communist authorities do not want to make mistakes that affect the “big picture,” but it has also raised many questions, with some netizens sarcastically saying, “Two local cases, half of Beijing stopped, a few city cases, then the whole country stopped, is this excessive prevention and control?”
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