China Locking Up People Inside Their Homes? Viral Videos Point To Govt's Extreme Steps Post Surge In Covid Cases

Desperate times call for desperate measures! As the Delta variant looms over the population in China, the country is reportedly resorting to a new tactic - locking residents inside their homes.

That appears to be the case if these viral videos are anything to go by. A report in ANI said that multiple videos has gone viral on social media platforms including Weibo, Twitter and YouTube, showing government personnel in hazmat suits placing iron bars over the doors of people’s homes and hammering them to prevent them from leaving.

Another report in Taiwan News said the move to lock people in their houses was a repeat of the extreme tactics seen in Wuhan at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

In one Twitter post, one man appears to be caught in the act of allegedly breaching his quarantine to "get some air" before returning to his apartment.

透气的大爷，遭到封门。pic.twitter.com/neSSIVeqEH

— 习近彭 (@wakeupfrog01) August 9, 2021

In a video uploaded to YouTube, the editor claims that if someone is found to have opened their door more than three times in one day, they will be locked inside by the authorities. People dressed in full PPE can be seen hammering large metal bars over a doorway in an X pattern.

Toward the end of another video, originally posted on Weibo and later uploaded to Twitter and YouTube, shows several doors being sealed and a recording being broadcast to residents, declaring: "People must not go out. As soon as they are caught, their doors will be sealed."

China on Tuesday reported over 180 coronavirus cases, including 108 locally-transmitted infections, the highest single-day rise since the current outbreak began last month. The National Health Commission (NMC) said in its daily report that the country reported 108 locally-transmitted cases, 35 imported and 38 asymptomatic infections on Monday.

The new wave of infections spread after a cluster of cases reported in Nanjing airport and later at Zhangjiajie, a tourist destination in China’s south Hunan province last month. Significantly, Hubei province is currently treating 68 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 55 locally-transmitted ones, mainly in the provincial capital Wuhan, where the coronavirus first emerged in December, 2019.

Wuhan city has already carried out mass testing of its 12 million population. There were also 80 asymptomatic cases under medical observation in the province, with 63 of them being locally-transmitted cases, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted local health officials as saying.