Residents of China’s port city Guangzhou have escaped lockdown clashing with the police over strict Covid lockdown measures.
Riot teams were deployed to the area after a viral video showed people overturning a police vehicle and tearing down Covid control barriers.
China has been facing poor economic figures putting the “dynamic zero-Covid” policy under enormous strain.
China’s “dynamic zero-Covid” policy was born out of the effort to control the initial outbreak in the city of Wuhan. People who have the virus are isolated or sent to hospitals, depending on the severity of their cases. Anyone deemed a close contact, which can be very broadly defined, is also isolated.
The riot follows Guangzhou’s worst Covid outbreak since the pandemic began.
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Tensions had been building in the city’s Haizhu District, which is under stay-at-home orders.
The area is home to many poorer itinerant laborers. They have complained of not being paid if they are unable to turn up for work, and of food shortages and skyrocketing prices while living under Covid control measures.
Local governments across China are struggling to maintain a zero-Covid approach without trashing their economies.
Rumors have spread that the testing companies are faking PCR results to artificially boost the number of infections to make more money.
A viral rumor led to the mass breakout of workers at the Foxconn complex in the central city of Zhengzhou two weeks ago, which has hit the global supply of Apple iPhones.