Millions of Chinese people face bans from public spaces including schools, hospitals and shopping malls unless they get a Covid-19 vaccine, under new edicts covering nearly two dozen cities and counties.
AFP reports that the severe new rules would be imposed on numerous second-tier cities in a possible marker of what is to come for the whole country, as it attempts to inoculate 64% of its 1.4 billion population by the end of this year.
In Chuxiong city in the southern province of Yunnan – home to about 510,000 people – all residents above the age of 18 need to get at least one dose of the vaccine by 23 July, according to a new government notice.
Those who fail to meet the deadline “will not be allowed to enter public facilities including hospitals, nursing homes, kindergartens and schools, libraries, museums, and prisons or take public transport”, the notice said. A month later, two shots will be required to enter public buildings.
Similar notices were issued by authorities in at least a dozen cities and counties across the country, including six in eastern Jiangxi province, one in Sichuan, one in Gaungxi and three in Fujian province.
Tianhe county in central Henan province threatened to stop paying wages to and dismiss any state employee not inoculated by 20 July, according to an official notice issued Monday.
At least a dozen places have stationed volunteers at government buildings, train stations and other busy public spaces to note down the names and contact information of those who are not vaccinated, according to AFP.
The move has led to an online backlash. “At first you [the government] said vaccination was voluntary, now you are forcing us!” wrote one angry user of China’s Twitter-like Weibo.
“I just got my second dose, but this new policy sounds like a royal decree: disappointed and disgusting!” complained another.
Yesterday, China had administered more than 1.4 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines, the National Health Commission said, without specifying the number of people vaccinated.
Hello and greetings to everyone reading, wherever you are the in the world. Mattha Busby here to take you through the next few hours of global Covid developments. Thanks to my colleague Martin Belam for covering the blog up until now. Please feel free to drop me a line on Twitter or message me via email (mattha.busby.freelance@guardian.co.uk) with any tips or thoughts on our coverage.
