Coronavirus in China: tolerance wanes for Chengdu’s track and test regime

People in the Sichuan capital find the local authority’s stringent measures to contain the latest Covid-19 outbreak harder to endure

Experts from West China College of Public Health publish an open letter urgently calling for protection of privacy and minimal disruption to daily lives

Reading Time:3 minutes

People line up at a makeshift testing site near a locked down residential compound following local cases of the coronavirus in Chengdu. Photo: cnsphoto via Reuters

Published: 2:00pm, 14 Nov 2021Updated: 9:20pm, 14 Nov 2021

Kristen Ng, a musician and promoter, went to see the new James Bond movie at a cinema two weeks ago with her girlfriend in Chengdu, the southwestern Chinese city where they live.

Three days later, they were in a hotel for 14 days of quarantine, after contact tracers found a confirmed Covid-19 case at the screening, Ng said. Other film-goers and cinema workers also had to quarantine.

The restrictions extended to people who were in contact with Ng and her girlfriend, who is a teacher, including 30 other teachers and 90 pupils, each with one of their parents, according to Ng.

Ng, her partner, and their friends have been living through China’s zero-tolerance policy towards Covid-19 for almost two years now. But they are finding the stringent measures to contain the latest outbreak – more than 1,100 cases in 20 provinces around the country since October – harder to endure.

People scan a QR code to enter a shopping mall in Chengdu. Photo: VCG via Getty Images

“It is a bit mad here at the moment. The effects are being felt much more widely this time. Lots of Covid-19 tests all around. Is this happening in other cities as well right now?” Ng said.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x