The eviction of some residents in the Chinese city of Xi’an at midnight, who were later taken to quarantine facilities, has sparked concern on social media.
Authorities have taken drastic measures in Xi’an, which is at the epicenter of China’s current Covid outbreak.
All 13 million residents are confined to their homes and are unable to leave in order to purchase food or supplies.
Authorities hope to contain the outbreak in time for the Lunar New Year and the Winter Olympics in Beijing next month.
The situation in Xi’an has heightened tensions, with many people taking to social media to express their displeasure in recent days.
Authorities have been distributing free food to households, but some have reported that their supplies are running low or that they have yet to receive assistance.
Residents in the Mingde 8 Yingli housing compound in the south of Xi’an were reportedly told just after midnight on January 1 that they needed to leave their homes and go to quarantine facilities.
This is thought to be due to recent infections in the community.
Several Chinese media outlets reported that locals mixed while being tested for Covid.
It is unknown how many people were transferred, but one person on social media claimed to have seen 30 buses outside the compound, while another claimed up to a thousand people were relocated.
Several people claimed that they had been left waiting on buses for several hours.
According to reports, those taken to quarantine facilities included elderly people, young children, and pregnant women.
A photo of an elderly man standing alone in the cold wintry night as he awaited transfer went viral, eliciting sympathy online.
Some people posted images of the isolation facilities, claiming that the amenities were too basic, that it was too cold, and that they had not been provided with food.
“There is nothing here except the bare necessities…
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What kind of quarantine is this if no one comes to check on us?
They transferred over a thousand of us in the middle of the night, and many of us are elderly or children.
They didn’t make any proper arrangements, so they just threw us [here] carelessly “read one of the comments made by a resident who was affected.
It has sparked widespread concern on the social media platform Weibo, with many questioning the necessity of the move given that residents had been quarantined in their homes for approximately two weeks.
They were initially allowed to buy food, but Xi’an authorities tightened the rules even more last week, mandating that residents leave their homes only to be tested for Covid.
The incident is one of several that have surfaced on Chinese social media in recent days, depicting tensions and frayed nerves in Xi’an, which has reported 1,600 cases since December 9th.
A video of a man being beaten by epidemic prevention workers for leaving his house to buy steamed buns went viral over the weekend.
Later, city officials confirmed that the workers had been punished.
