INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
China&s southern metropolis of Guangzhou announced plans Thursday to build quarantine facilities for nearly 250,000 people to fight surging
coronavirus outbreaks even as the national government tries to reduce the impact of anti-disease controls that have confined millions of
people to their homes, AP reported.Guangzhou, a city of 13 million people and the biggest of a series of hot spots across China with
outbreaks since early October, reported 9,680 new cases in the past 24 hours
That was about 40% of the 23,276 cases reported nationwide.China&s infection numbers are low compared with the United States and other major
countries, but the ruling Communist Party is trying to isolate every case
Repeated closures of neighborhoods, schools and businesses are fueling public frustration and clashes with health workers.&The epidemic
situation in Guangzhou still is very serious,& said a city official, Wang Baosen, according to the South Metropolis Daily
newspaper.Authorities in Guangzhou sent 95,300 people from the city&s Haizhu district to quarantine centers or for hospital treatment, the
government announced.Access to the district of 1.8 million people was suspended last week following outbreaks, but some controls were lifted
Videos on social media that said they were shot in Guangzhou showed angry residents knocking over barriers set up by white-garbed health
workers.Guangzhou will add 246,407 beds, including 132,015 in hospital isolation wards and 114,392 for people who are infected but have no
symptoms, the city government said
A series of rapid construction initiatives in China since the 2020 start of the pandemic have built hospitals with thousands of beds in as
little as a week.A spike in infections has led officials in areas across China to confine families to cramped apartments or order people
into quarantine if a single case is found in their workplace or neighborhood.Guangzhou is one of a number of populous cities that have been
trying to respond to outbreaks with more flexible tactics.The Communist Party promised last week to cut the cost of anti-virus controls by
reducing the length of quarantines and changing other rules
However, party leaders said they will stick to the &zero COVID& strategy at a time when other countries are easing restrictions and trying
to live with the virus.Economists and health experts have said &zero COVID& might stay in place for up to another year because the
government needs to vaccinate millions of elderly people before it can lift curbs that keep most foreign visitors out of China.At a news
conference, a health official said the government is trying to deal with &simple and crude& over-enforcement in response to public
complaints.The government has received 130,000 complaints including of local officials improperly isolating visitors arriving from low-risk
areas, according to the official, Shen Hongbing, the deputy director of the National Bureau of Disease Control.&We have sorted out the
problems reported by the masses,& Shen said
He didn&t mention the girl&s death in Zhengzhou.A total of 1,659 cases were reported in Henan province, another hot spot where Zhengzhou is
located.The post Chinese city plans 250,000 quarantine beds to fight virus first appeared on Ariana News.
