Local officials in the southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou issued a rare apology after community workers broke into dozens of homes to search for people who had tested positive for the coronavirus and others believed to be close contacts, sparking harsh criticism on social media led.
The government of the city’s Liwan district said in a statement that workers opened locks to enter 84 units in an apartment complex. They were looking for residents they thought were hiding to avoid being sent to quarantine centers. Under China’s zero-tolerance approach to Covid, all positive cases and close contacts must be sent to centralized quarantine facilities for several days.
Photos on social media showed broken locks on apartment doors, and the government said the locks were later replaced. It added that the district chief had apologized to residents separately and promised unspecified compensation.
The government also said the incident was “extremely distressing” and that it was investigating the incident and would punish those deemed responsible.
Guangzhou has reported fewer than 10 locally transmitted cases in the past week. On Wednesday, China reported 906 new locally transmitted cases, mainly in northwestern Gansu province and southern Guangxi region.
The pandemic has enabled the Communist Party to deepen its reach into the lives of Chinese citizens, tracking and restricting their movements, and confining them to their homes and businesses. Prospective protesters have said health codes on their phones have been changed to prevent them from moving freely, and residents’ doors have been sealed in many cities across China to prevent them from leaving during the lockdown.
In some cases, officials have backtracked on measures in response to public outcry. In Shanghai, people complained after health workers beat to death a corgi they believed to be infected with Covid, and community workers acknowledged the killing had been excessive.
Anger over the Guangzhou case continued to simmer on Chinese social media after the apology. Some people criticized what they called abuse of power. Several Weibo users said abuse related to Covid prevention had become widespread since Covid first emerged in the country.