Robots to deliver meals and cameras pointed at the entrance to homes: China is not skimping on technological means to strictly enforce containment measures and avoid a new epidemic wave.

The country, where the new coronavirus appeared in December, has largely contained the Covid-19 epidemic on its soil. But the authorities fear the "imported" cases of contamination by travelers from abroad, mainly Chinese.

In Beijing, all people from Hubei, the province at the epicenter of the epidemic and of which Wuhan is the capital, as well as areas of China still considered to be at high risk, must remain in solitary confinement for 14 days. on arrival: at home or in designated places.

This measure also applies to those arriving from abroad. In a quarantine hotel in the center of the Chinese capital, a guard makes sure that no resident leaves his room.

Only movements tolerated in the corridors: those of a cylindrical robot one meter high which distributes bottles of water, meals and packages to confined people. The machine can take an elevator by itself and dials the telephone number of the room once it has arrived at its destination to inform of its presence.

Track down every suspicious movement

This system has the advantage of minimizing contact between staff and potentially contaminated customers. Doctors in full wetsuits who come to read their temperature every day are the only humans with whom the residents are physically in contact.

Those who make their quarantine at home are affixed on their door of house a silent electronic alarm to track each suspicious opening. A notice also asks neighbors to keep a close eye on the confined, who risk fines if they are violated.

In a residential complex in Beijing, people in quarantine must systematically report to district officials when they open their doors. And in some cases, a camera directly aimed at the front door of the home monitors any suspicious movement. However, surveillance measures are not applied with the same zeal.

With AFP

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