Chinese desperately attempt to flee world largest lockdown

 Epoch Times:

The first man set out on foot. For eight days and seven nights, he walked across snowy mountains, pacing around to warm himself amid the bitter winds and sleeping only when the sun came out—until suspicious villagers tipped off the police.

The second hopped onto a shared bike, cycling for more than 10 hours overnight. But the police got him as well.

The third opted for a water route, jumping into the freezing river in the hopes of swimming away, only to end up stranded for more than six hours.

Compelled by harsh COVID-19 measures in China, some ordinary citizens such as the trio have resorted to desperate measures to flee Xi’an, the city where a severe lockdown policy has barred 13 million residents from leaving their homes.

Best known as the home to the 2,000-year-old Terracotta Warriors, the north-central Chinese city is reporting the country’s worst COVID-19 tally in more than 21 months. It’s posing a headache to the regime in Beijing as it scrambles to gain the upper hand on the illness just four weeks ahead of the Winter Olympics, which Beijing has pledged to be “safe and grand.”

While the caseloads from Xi’an—more than 1,700 as of Jan. 4—pale in comparison with many countries in the West, experts and residents have questioned the authenticity of such figures, because of the regime’s routine practice of censoring unfavorable news.

China is the largest country implementing a “zero-COVID” policy, doggedly going after every virus case no matter the emotional or economic costs.

But Beijing’s rigid playbook of fighting the virus—relying chiefly on vigorous contact tracing, mass testing, centralized quarantines, and harsh lockdowns—is showing strains amid growing public frustration and anger. With the worsening outbreak in Xi’an, questions are mounting as to how long such stringent COVID measures can last.

Getting the infection figures down to zero has become a political task.

Liu Guozhong, the Party chief of Shaanxi Province where Xi’an is the capital, on Jan. 1 instructed local officials to tap into the “wartime spirit” and quarantine anyone at risk “without a moment of delay.” A leaked document circulating on Chinese social media showed that Liu had set Jan. 4 as the date Xi’an needs to achieve zero new cases of COVID. The Epoch Times couldn’t verify the authenticity of the memo.

Racing to contain the outbreak, Xi’an has imposed the world’s strictest lockdown measures since Wuhan became the initial epicenter of the pandemic.

Overnight, thousands of people identified as close contacts were hauled away by the truckload to other counties and cities to be quarantined. For the rest, the farthest they could go is the metal door enclosing their neighborhood residential compound.
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There is more.

This looks like an unhealthy response to the virus being imposed by a dictatorial power.  Lockdowns in other countries have been seen as harsh and ineffective.  From Australia to Europe people are rebelling against the "for your safety" dictates of government officials.  It has led to serious food shortages in China as well as price increases.

The Florida and Swedish approach seems to be working better.