China’s Covid-19 health code system, which strictly manages the movement of personnel, collapsed in Xi’an this week, worsening the situation in the blocked city, and the country has had its worst outbreak since Wuhan.

The crash complicated efforts to clear cases through large-scale testing, set up barriers for people seeking care in hospitals, and resulted in the suspension of a senior official due to Beijing’s outrage over the situation. The latest of many bureaucrats to be punished.

The municipal party committee said in a statement that Liu Jun, director of the Xi’an Big Data Bureau, was temporarily removed from his post due to poor work. Although the committee did not specify the reason behind its decision, it was in Xi’an’s health code system, which was within Liu’s authority to track individual activities and vaccinations, after it collapsed on Tuesday.

According to media reports, the system crash meant that after a new round of extensive nucleic acid testing began in Xi’an, locals could not obtain their Covid infection status. The provincial government subsequently stated in a statement that the system was temporarily paralyzed due to traffic congestion and is currently under repair. It also encountered technical problems in December. People must show their health code-which proves that their Covid test is negative-to enter the hospital.

According to a video on Weibo, a mother lost her child after waiting for more than two hours because the hospital would not let her in without a health code showing that she was not infected. The Provincial Women’s Federation said it is investigating the matter.

Similar complaints and criticisms have also appeared elsewhere on Chinese social media for patients failing to receive timely treatment in already overwhelmed hospitals.

There were more than 1,700 cases of virus infection in Xi’an. During the lockdown period, more than 13 million residents were not allowed to leave their homes without special reasons, resulting in shortages of food and medical care. These strict measures — some of the toughest in the world — come as Chinese authorities are racing to contain the country’s Covid outbreak before the Beijing Winter Olympics next month, and are causing locals to feel increasingly frustrated.

The lockdown for more than ten days has caused anxiety in Xi’an, China

China is the only country that implements a zero-tolerance Covid strategy, which involves escalating measures to reduce the infection rate to zero. Although the outbreak in Xi’an is a delta variant, the more transmissible omicron strain that is now sweeping the world will further challenge this approach. Mainland China has not reported any community transmission of omicron.

This week, two other local officials, including the deputy mayor, were removed from their posts for handling the epidemic.

Complete News Source : Hindustan Times