Covid-19: Beijing compound staff meet backlash after demanding quarantined residents wear wristband monitor
- ‘Same as an electronic shackle’: resident reports disquiet after being ordered to wear wristband that monitors body temperature and potentially tracks movement
- China’s National Health Commission has repeatedly prohibited local governments from imposing excessive pandemic prevention measures
The wristband had to be worn 24 hours a day, a staff member from Beijing’s Tiantongyuan residential community told Shanghai-based news portal Eastday.com.
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“You also have to make sure it’s connected at all times … except for when you’re showering or recharging it,” the worker said. “It needs to be worn for seven days, until your last nucleic acid testing result comes out.”
In a viral Weibo post on Wednesday night, a Beijing resident said he had just returned to the city from a business trip and voluntarily reported his whereabouts to his residential compound.
His home quarantine had almost finished when a compound employee called him to say everyone must wear an electronic wristband to measure body temperature. The wristband is connected to a phone, making it easier to report temperature and other data.
“I told her that if the wristband can connect to the internet, it must be able to track my whereabouts as well – it’s almost the same as an electronic shackle,” he wrote.