Video: Midnight evacuation, people forced to live in metal boxes under China's zero Covid rule

Chandigarh, January 13

China, under its “zero Covid” policy, has imposed strict rules on its citizens placing millions under quarantine.

Amid all this, Beijing prepares to host next month’s Winter Olympics.

People, including pregnant women, children and elderly, are being forced to stay in these crammed boxes furnished with a wooden bed and a toilet – for as long as two weeks – even if a single person tests positive in their locality, reported Daily mail.

Many rows of metal boxes to house the Covid-19 patients, lines of buses taking people to quarantine camps were seen in a set of nightmarish social media videos from China.

In several areas, residents were told just after midnight that they need to leave their homes and go to the quarantine centres, it said.

In China, mandatory track-and-trace apps mean close contacts are usually detected and quarantined quickly.

As per the report, over 20 million people are now confined to their homes in China and are banned from leaving their houses even to buy food.

This comes days after the distressing case of a pregnant Chinese woman miscarrying after a strict lockdown delayed her access to medical treatment. The incident reignited debate over the limits of China’s zero-tolerance approach to Covid-19.

China, where the coronavirus was first detected in 2019, has a formula it calls “dynamic zero” for curbing outbreaks: strict lockdowns and immediate mass testing.