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(CNN)A simple errand is a daughter who takes her old father to the hospital for medicine. did. Has received national attention after a small city on the border between China and North Korea and its nearly two-month blockade of Covid-19 violated pandemic rules.
A video of the scene (related hashtags have been viewed more than a billion times on China's Twitter-like platform Weibo) is a conflict between drivers identified by police as 41 years old. -The old woman was named Hao, and her father and local police officers stopped Hao at a security checkpoint because she didn't have the proper clearance.
In a video shot in the northeastern part of Dandong, Hao got out of her car and she had already been tested for Covid-19, and she had already been tested for Covid-19. You can hear that-with obvious anxiety-screaming. The housing community has given her permission to leave to go to the hospital to receive her medicine.
Police officers prevent her from re-entering her car and push her. Then she fell to the ground and her 70-year-old father slapped a policeman.
Later in the video, you can see a policeman forcing Hao from his car to the ground.
Hao's obvious violation. Her health was yellow instead of green. This means she was not allowed to travel around the city under local rules that rely on the laws that are now widespread in China to control who can move where. increase.
In a statement Wednesday the day after the incident, local police sentenced Hao to 10 days of administrative detention for interfering with their work while his father was undergoing "criminal coercion." -According to state media, it could lead to further charges-Suspected assault on police officers.
The two "broke through the checkpoint" and were suspended "according to the law," a police statement said, adding that Hao "refused to cooperate and comply with the epidemic prevention rules."
In another statement the next day, police said her code was still yellow and her father had not taken the required tests because Hao's test results were not yet available. rice field. -Run China News Weekly.
Hao also responded publicly after the incident and found in a widely shared social media video for her father recovering from her surgery and suffering from her body shape. He explained that he was driving to get a difficult medicine. She has neuralgia.
"With this kind of pain, he can't eat, talk, or sleep," she said. "Who said the yellow code couldn't pass. If so, the sick person would have to wait there and die."
CNN contacted, but she contacted Hao. I couldn't.
However, the next day, a video of the situation spread, and the police response made the Chinese people nervous. Many Chinese citizens are now increasingly dissatisfied with the strict rules governing freedom of movement within the country. Adherence to the "Zero Corona" strategy, where eradication of infection is a top priority.
"This wave of public opinion is already rising, and ordinary people will certainly support fathers and daughters," one user wrote in a comment that received tens of thousands of likes on Weibo. ..
"If you don't allow your father and daughter to go out, you need to help them solve the problem. If you can help them, they won't go out. Police officers will not go out. I knew I was going to get medicine. Why can't I help the police get medicine? Epidemic prevention is to serve and protect people, not to stop them. I read the comment.
From the public eye
The incident is a myriad of people who do not have access to proper or timely medical care due to the heavy Covid-19. Following the report of restrictions.
These issues and frustrations with China's Covid-19 regulation were most prominent in Shanghai. In Shanghai, the previous two-month blockade of 25 million people triggered a small protest and became a symbol of the length of the Chinese Communist Party. Go to implement that zero-covid goal.
An empty road during the blockade of Covid-19 in Dandong last month.
However, last week's incident in Dandong focused specifically on the situation in small cities near the Chinese border. Such locations often suffer from stricter measures, as authorities fear they could be the gateway to imported virus cases, but they may not be visible to the public. ..
Ruili, a city of about 200,000 in Yunnan on the border with Myanmar, has undergone an intermittent blockade since the beginning of the pandemic.
"In places like Shanghai, we hear stories of rising social dissatisfaction and rising socio-economic costs, but in smaller cities like (Ruili) and Dandong, what's happening? I don't know if there is such a story until it becomes a social media headline. "
In Dandong, separated from North Korea by the Yalu River, a series of outbreaks since late April has put authorities under strict siege, primarily to 2.2 million cities. ..
The temporary and limited mitigation in mid-May was quickly replaced by a new blockade a few days later.
According to state media, Dandong remained isolated from the rest of the country, with planes and trains stopped for several months.
After North Korea reported an outbreak last month, fears of the virus spreading across national borders also closed windows on windy days near the river to keep out of the water. I called on the residents to live there. -Covid-19 Measures that have little to do with scientific norms for prevention.
Since May 24, Dandong City has confirmed 249 confirmed cases in the city center, officials said Friday. In China, the number of confirmed cases does not include asymptomatic cases.
Uncertain Future
Dandong Thursday following a turmoil over the situation between Hao and his father and police. Announced mitigation. Certain restrictions in the city-basically removes obstacles to the movement of the city for residents of areas that are not under special control.
However, even if it is relaxed, severe restrictions remain. People can only leave the city under "special circumstances" and free-moving residents must have a negative Covid-19 test within 48 hours. According to the government's announcement, the school remains online and public transportation has not been reopened.
At a press conference on Friday, Mayor Hao Jang-jun said he "calmly recognizes" the gap between the city's epidemic measures and the expectations of the population.
"The initiative we are taking is not accurate enough, and long hours of operational fatigue make some workers tired and lazy, and their method is simple and crude." He pledged. Take into account the opinions of the inhabitants.
Dandong mitigation declares the city "wins the fight" with Covid-19 after Shanghai chief executive officer reports zero local infections for the first time since February 23 It happened because I did. Meals from Wednesday-Approximately four weeks after the city's blockade is lifted, service will resume in low-risk areas.
However, even if the city provisionally lifts some measures, it is clear that strict testing requirements and health law checks will remain nationwide as long as the Zero-COVID policy continues.
According to state media, Dandong's daughter, who is not currently engaged in a 10-day detention due to a pandemic, still has a human side to be recognized in the restrictions.
"You may have a sick family member, child, or senior at home. You may have encountered the same problem I experienced while seeking medical assistance," she said. Said online. statement.
"A person without empathy cannot understand what you felt at that time."
