Despite China’s strict zero-tolerance policy towards Covid, the infection has again reared its ugly head in the country on the back of an Omicron variant led wave. In fact, new Covid-19 cases recorded in China on Tuesday more than doubled from the previous day with the nation facing its biggest outbreak since the early days of the pandemic.

‘STUCK WITHOUT BASIC AMENITIES’

Among the worst-hit in such a situation are students in the country, many of whom have reportedly been left without access to basic amenities such as bathrooms, drinking water, and sanitary pads.

It’s not just the students who are suffering. Alleged cumbersome procedures at airports are discouraging foreign airlines to fly into China, preventing many, including students, from returning home.

According to NBC News, Delta Air Lines plane made a sudden U-turn back to the United States. The airline cited cumbersome new disinfection procedures at the Shanghai airport. However, Chinese officials refuted the claim.

Amid the Covid restrictions, many Indian students, who enrolled for medical studies in China are fearing cancellation of their degrees if they are unable to return to China by June to finish their compulsory 12-month internship. These students returned to India two years ago and haven’t been able to go back to their universities in China due to Covid restrictions.

Border controls, mass testing, quarantine procedures, and lockdowns have been inherent parts of China’s strict zero-Covid policy throughout the pandemic as it aims to stamp out all outbreaks and chains of transmission.

The Shanghai government converted several apartments into centralised quarantine centres after infections started rising in the city. This forced the residents to clear out their belongings, according to several government notices, reported CNN.

SNAP LOCKDOWNS HIT LIVES

The daily lives of Shanghai residents have been sent for a toss on account of the snap lockdowns that have trapped many. Residents, office workers, and students are unable to step out unless every person in a quarantine zone tested negative, locals said.

With increasing restrictions being imposed at short notice, the residents are losing patience. Students from Jilin Agricultural Science and Technology University in the northeastern Jilin province took to social media to plead for help. They said they had been left to fend for themselves after a Covid cluster was detected on campus.

A user on Chinese microblogging website Weibo, claiming to be a student at the university, alleged that infected students had been isolated in libraries and academic buildings. The user said that the students were “all breaking down and crying”.

“Many students in my dormitory had a fever, but counsellors just gave us fever reducers and told us to sleep with a warm quilt,” the user wrote on Thursday. “There is a serious shortage of daily necessities. Girls have no sanitary pads. Students are bleeding and hurting, crying and calling their families,” the Weibo user added.

CNN reached out to the university through its official Weibo account for comment as the school’s official website and any additional contact information were taken offline.

The Weibo user further alleged: “Students isolated in their dormitories found their doors were sealed off and they can’t even go to the dormitory’s public toilet. When the students tried to call the government’s Covid-19 control centre, phone operators refused to answer our questions,” he said.

Thirty buses later took them to a separate quarantine facility last week, the state-run Global Times reported.

Soon after the Weibo post went viral, angry posts by netizens flooded the internet, with users calling for accountability from local officials. “From the school to the prevention and control institutions to the Jilin city government — if there was one person who had the courage to assume responsibility, it would not have developed to the present situation,” one Weibo post read.

The city government later said the secretary of the school’s Chinese Communist Party committee had been removed from the position for negligence.

SURGING CASES

Several cities in at least 20 provinces of China have been affected by the latest outbreak, according to the National Health Commission. Jilin and eastern Shandong province have emerged as the biggest hotspots. Cases have also been reported in the capital, Beijing, as well as Shanghai.

Jilin province capital Changchun imposed a city-wide lockdown on Friday, isolating all 9 million residents within their neighbourhoods. According to the latest diktat, only one person per household is now allowed to step out to buy groceries every alternate day.

With the apparent spread of the cluster at Jilin University, Jilin city closed schools and entertainment spaces. Similar measures were imposed on all schools in the city of Qingdao in Shandong province and Shanghai.

According to Chinese health authorities, several cities are fighting the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

In the Laixi area of Qingdao, students constitute more than a quarter of the 776 confirmed cases since March 4. Authorities said the “cluster” has since spread to other provinces. As many as 17 officials from Laixi have been punished for allowing the “loopholes” and alleged negligence.

RETURN HOPE FOR STUDENTS

Meanwhile, China on Monday said it was planning to allow a small number of foreign students with “actual needs” to return to universities. Reports of Beijing issuing visas to some Pakistani students are also doing the rounds. “On the basis of ensuring safety, it is coordinating arrangements for a small number of foreign students with actual needs to return to China in light of the changing international epidemic situation and the characteristics of the students’ majors,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.

Complete News Source: India Today