https://theweek.com/speedreads/900488/chinas-coronavirus-recovery-all-fake-whistleblowers-residents-claim
March 6, 2020
China's claims of how it's handling coronavirus recovery should be taken with more than a few grains of salt.
Even before COVID-19 became a global crisis, Chinese leaders had been criticized for their handling of the situation and lack of transparency about the disease's progression. Things now look like they're on the upswing, and businesses even appear to be headed back to work — but whistleblowers and local officials tell Caixan that's just a carefully crafted ruse.
Beijing has spent much of the outbreak pushing districts to carry on business as usual, with some local governments subsidizing electricity costs and even installing mandatory productivity quotas. Zhejiang, a province east of the epicenter city of Wuhan, claimed as of Feb. 24 it had restored 98.6 percent of its pre-coronavirus work capacity.
But civil servants tell Caixan that businesses are actually faking these numbers. Beijing had started checking Zhejiang businesses' electricity consumption levels, so district officials ordered the companies to start leaving their lights and machinery on all day to drive the numbers up, one civil servant said. Businesses have reportedly falsified staff attendance logs as well — they "would rather waste a small amount of money on power than irritate local officials," Caixan writes.
In Wuhan, officials have tried to make it appear that recovery efforts are going smoothly. But when "central leaders" personally survey disinfecting regimens and food delivery, local officials "make a special effort" for them and them alone, one resident told Caixan. And in a video circulating on social media, residents can be seen shouting at visiting leaders from the apartments where they're being quarantined — "Fake, it's all fake." Read more at Caixan. Kathryn Krawczyk
12:16 p.m.
While new cases appear to be slowing in China, the country is still reeling from fallout and criticism over its response to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.
That was on full display Saturday when a five-story hotel in Quanzhou, China, used to quarantine people potentially exposed to COVID-19 after traveling to the epicenter, Hubei province, collapsed Saturday, reportedly trapping around 70 people. It is not clear if anyone has died, but Reuters reports 34 people have been rescued in the hours after the hotel collapsed.
A woman staying under quarantine at another hotel said she tried contacting her relatives who were in the hotel and are reportedly healthy, but has not yet been able to reach them. She said she's "very worried."
Some people are reportedly demanding an investigation into how the hotel collapsed, the reason for which is not currently known. But, either way, the incident will likely do little to quell anger directed at Beijing from China's citizenry over how the government has handled the COVID-19 outbreak from the beginning. Read more at Reuters. Tim O'Donnell
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