Volunteer Covid-19 control worker in China stabbed to death by neighbour, days after a similar deadly confrontation
- A Harbin man wanted to go out to dispose of trash. A volunteer gatekeeper said he couldn’t, and offered to get rid of it. Enraged, the resident stabbed him
- It was the second such fatal confrontation in China recently. A driver in Hebei who objected to a Covid-19 test knocked down and killed a virus control officer
A gatekeeper in Harbin, northeastern China, was stabbed to death after trying to stop a resident leaving a community, police said, the second killing of a coronavirus control worker in the country in less than two weeks.
The 42-year-old gatekeeper, Zhang Libin, stopped a man named Chen on Wednesday. Chen attacked Zhang with a knife and he died on the way to hospital, according to a statement from the municipal police bureau.
Police have detained Chen and are investigating the incident, according to the statement.
Zhang, who lived in the same community as Chen, had volunteered to staff the community gate. He was on duty with another man when Chen approached and said he needed to leave the community to dispose of his rubbish, The Beijing News reported.
Zhang refused to allow Chen to leave and offered to dispose of the rubbish for him. Chen then took out a knife and stabbed him, another volunteer infection control worker in the city was quoted as saying.
The stabbing happened just 10 days after a villager in Qinhuangdao, Hebei province, killed an epidemic control worker after being asked to undergo Covid-19 testing, according to prosecutors.