They cut off water and electricity to force them to leave and confiscate the keys to homes.. China sends tens of thousands into quarantine!

Thousands of residents of the Chinese capital, Beijing, were sent Saturday to quarantine centers, after discovering a small number of infections, as the capital began to take more strict measures to combat Covid-19, similar to Shanghai, which is spreading the epidemic.

Beijing is currently facing the largest outbreak of the epidemic since the outbreak began.

Omicron has infected more than 1,300 people since late April, leading to the indefinite closure of city restaurants, schools and attractions.

These measures come in the context of China's "zero Covid" policy, which is causing growing discontent, especially as it includes an almost complete closure of borders with a reduction in international flights, in contrast to the policy of lifting restrictions adopted in most parts of the world.

More than 13,000 residents of the Nanxinyuan residential complex, southeast of the capital, were transferred to hotels designated for sanitary isolation on Friday night, Saturday, after 26 cases of Covid-19 were discovered in their place of residence, according to pictures and an official notice circulating on social media.

"Experts have decided that all Nanxinyuan residents will be quarantined starting from midnight on May 21 for seven days," said an official statement from Chaoyang County's health authorities.

The statement added: "Please cooperate under pain of legal consequences."

Pictures on social media showed hundreds of people standing in queues with their belongings in the dark, waiting to board the buses.

A resident complained on the Chinese blogging site "Weibo", that "some have been detained since April 23 despite the negative results of their tests, and many of them are elderly or have children."

"The relocation really feels like we're at war," resident Liu Guangyu wrote on Weibo on Saturday. He said they were notified of the move only half a day in advance, but confirmed he was satisfied with the hotel. According to discussions on the website, authorities asked residents to pack their luggage and told them that their homes you will be sterilized

And the city of Shanghai (east) has witnessed a closure, including its 25 million residents, since the beginning of April.

They complain of problems with supplies and fear that they will be sent to quarantine centers, as thousands have been sent to such centers hundreds of kilometers from their places of residence.

On Saturday, users of Weibo expressed their dissatisfaction with Beijing's adoption of a policy similar to that adopted in Shanghai.

One wrote, "As happened in Shanghai, they cut off the water and electricity first, then they ask for the keys... Then they sterilize the homes, destroying electronic devices, clothes, furniture and food."

Disease control authorities in Chaoyang Province told AFP that they were not publishing information and called for reliance on the COVID press conference held by the Beijing authorities.

Beijing authorities expanded work from home Saturday to an additional area, a day after most public bus and subway services were suspended.

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