Shanghai's city closure and man-made disasters continue to censor speech

It has been two weeks since Shanghai has been completely closed down, and the number of local new crown virus infections is still rising. In this metropolis of 26 million people, secondary disasters brought about by the lockdown of the epidemic are constantly being staged. In response to the almost boiling public grievances, the authorities launched another censorship on social media platforms.

Shanghai imitates Hong Kong infected people to isolate residents at home: Fangcang shelter hospitals are overloaded and overcrowded

CCP uses epidemic prevention tests to fully control

"Shanghai People's Endurance Has Reached the Limit" and "Shanghai Dead" web articles resonated

The Shanghai Municipal Health Commission reported that on Wednesday, the city added 2,573 new confirmed cases of local new coronary pneumonia and more than 25,000 asymptomatic infections, and the number of new infections in a single day hit a new high.

At the same time, another set of data is particularly intriguing. As of Tuesday, more than 250,000 local infections have been reported in Shanghai , but no deaths have been reported.

Some public opinion believes that this shows that the toxicity of the mutant strain of Omicron has been greatly weakened, and the authorities' resolute implementation of the "dynamic clearing" policy is becoming more and more unscientific. What is even more worrying is that secondary disasters caused by the closure of the city are being staged one after another.

Humanitarian disaster continues

An article on the WeChat public account titled "Shanghai Dead" has recently been swiped online, but it has now been blocked. The article organizes a number of tragedies caused by the closure of the city. For example, on March 23 , a nurse at Shanghai Dongfang Hospital suffered an asthma attack at home and was refused admission by her own hospital. A few hours later, she died in another hospital; on April 3 , a cancer patient suddenly felt unwell. After arriving at the designated hospital, he was told that a nucleic acid report was required to enter the emergency room. While waiting for the report, the patient's heartbeat gradually lost and he died in the early morning of the next day.

Ji Xiaolong, a resident of Pudong New Area who posted a petition for Shanghai citizens on social media platforms earlier this month, told the station late Thursday that there have been many abnormal deaths in Shanghai recently, and these people are not included in the official statistics.

"Shanghai usually has an average of 7,000 surgeries a day, and there are many kidney disease patients, diabetic patients, people who often undergo chemotherapy, etc. who need dialysis. Once the hospital closes, what will these people do? How many starve to death? Suicide How many? How many hurt each other?"

As of midnight on Thursday, the Weibo account of "Shanghai Anti-epidemic Help" had been read 850 million times, with locals posting requests for help almost every few minutes. A resident of Pudong New Area complained that she tried her best to grab food online at 6 o'clock every morning, but she still couldn't grab it, and she has not received any supplies from the government so far; a resident of Minhang District said that her family One of the pancreatic cancer patients used to go to the local hospital for chemotherapy once every two weeks, but the community has been closed for two weeks. The patient cannot see a doctor, dispense medicines, and receive chemotherapy, and the neighborhood committee cannot solve the problem; a resident of Xuhui District wrote, A positive old man next to him had started coughing, and the neighborhood committee said that he had filled out the transfer form, but he had not picked it up after two days.

Li Qiang, secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, stressed during an inspection in Huangpu District on Thursday that the authorities should take the supply of basic materials as the top priority, and try to do everything possible to deliver materials to the community and residents' doorsteps. As long as the epidemic prevention conditions are met, it must be "open as much as possible".

Xu Peiling, a resident of Minhang District, told reporters that her community has been closed for more than a month, and the community has only distributed supplies four times during this period. Fortunately, she purchased some food before the closure, otherwise it would not be enough for her and her friends. The mother eats both. During the interview, her tone was full of helplessness.

"The whole world should know the current situation in Shanghai. The government has the final say, they can do whatever they want, and the people really can't do anything."

Public opinion rollover is censored

With the lockdown still in sight, some people started venting their anguish online, causing public opinion to overturn. Chinese state media CCTV posted a post on Weibo on Wednesday, criticizing the 2021 Annual Report on Human Rights of Countries released by the United States recently, and sparked a heated discussion that the United States is the country with the largest human rights deficit in the world. number one. That night, the topic was full of netizens' mockery of the official announcement. Someone said: "It's not necessarily foreign forces who post in the middle of the night, it may also be people from Shanghai who are too hungry to sleep." Another joked: "Although we put seals on people's doors, kill pets, waste medical resources and make more urgent Critically ill patients miss treatment, but we count zero deaths!"

As of noon on Thursday, the topic had disappeared from the hot search list, and only selected comments in line with the official announcement were left under the original CCTV post, and the "negative remarks" had disappeared. The reporter noticed that the topic "People's Daily Talks about the Decade of Chasing Dreams" launched by the People's Daily on Wednesday also had a similar "rollover" incident, but it was also censored.

Hua Po, a political commentator in Beijing, believes that the authorities have not only failed to adequately address public grievances, but have instead added fuel to the fire.

"The local government's approach is simple and rude. Instead of actively responding to the needs of the people, actively working, organizing, and expanding staff to address some of the people's demands, they have adopted a repressive approach."

Li Qiang, secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, said last week when inspecting the construction of Fangcang shelter hospitals and the supply of supplies, that the general policy of "dynamic clearing" must be adhered to. Some public opinion believes that the continued spread of the epidemic in Shanghai may make the official career of Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, precarious.