On Sunday, a bus taking passengers to a Covid-19 quarantine center crashed in a remote section of Guizhou province, southwest China, leaving at least 27 people dead and another 20 hurt.
According to local media accounts, the incident happened early on Sunday morning in Sandu county, around 170 kilometres southeast of Guiyang, the provincial capital. According to authorities, the bus was carrying 47 passengers, and the 20 injured were receiving medical attention in a hospital.
Apparently following the discovery of one Covid-19 case in the complex, the report that the bus was transporting apartment complex occupants to a quarantine facility was initially spread on social media, presumably by the victims’ family and friends.
Also Read: Pakistan disowns JeM leadership and Masoor Azad for FATF relief
The Sandu County Emergency Management Bureau identified the passengers’ destination as a quarantine facility in Libo after speaking with the news outlet Caixin.
In a report on the incident, Reuters noted that “unverified reports and photos of the bus had been circulating throughout Sunday afternoon on Chinese social media, generating an outpouring of anger once again at China’s strict Covid policies and the initial lack of transparency from the authorities.”
Users of the social networking platform WeChat frequently re-posted the statement “All of us are on this bus.” Following then, the comments were taken off from Chinese social media. By Sunday night, the majority of the bus crash’s web information had been removed.
The bus involved in the tragedy was frequently used as a “isolation and transfer vehicle for epidemic-related workers in Guiyang City,” according to the Guizhou-based Daily Tianyan News. Since the coronavirus was originally identified in the city of Wuhan in central China in late 2019, this is the worst Covid-19-related incident to have occurred in China.
Nearly three years later, Beijing is still adhering to its stringent zero-Covid policy, which calls for mass testing, enforced quarantines for infected people and anyone who have contact with them, and quick lockdowns.
Even a few instances of Covid-19 could result in harsh lockdowns and widespread examinations. According to the national health commission’s daily bulletin, China reported 106 domestically transmitted confirmed Covid-19 cases on Sunday, including 50 in Guizhou.
Also Read: Mamata Banerjee alleges BJP workers behind Kolkata violence
Meanwhile, Chengdu, a city in southwest China, will reopen on Monday and continue business as usual. The city has been under lockdown since September 1. Since Shanghai saw a brutal lockdown in April and May, Chengdu, a population of more than 21 million people, has become the largest Chinese metropolis to experience limits.
