Abuse of epidemic controls criticized

Health official says virus containment measures still play an important role

China's top epidemic control authority on Friday reiterated its adamant stance on prohibiting excessive virus containment measures and abuse of related tools.

The State Council's Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism stressed that local authorities should not impose excessive travel restrictions on people traveling from low-risk regions, using digital health codes for non-epidemic purposes or rigidly turning away logistics workers.

"Wrongdoing such as simplification of antivirus policies, adopting a one-size-fits-all approach and implementing additional curbs should be resolutely prevented,"Lei Zhenglong, deputy director of the National Health Commission's bureau of disease prevention and control, said at a news briefing.

He also exposed a handful of typical cases. In one instance, four cities in Hebei province were found to have blindly placed all people traveling from Shanghai and Beijing under control.

Another high-profile case recently involves the improper use of COVID-19 health codes. Earlier this month, some depositors of several banks in Henan province alleged that their health codes were intentionally changed from green to red, which blocked their ability to withdraw savings.

Five local officials were punished for abuse of power following an investigation.

Lei said that health codes have played an important role in helping identify and manage those at risk of infection, cutting off the transmission chain and ensuring orderly movement since the virus emerged.

"The mechanism has made it clear that designation of health code status should be precise and based on virus levels in different regions," he said.

"The function of health codes is definite and its use should not be expanded without lawful authorization," Lei said. "Changing health codes for reasons unrelated to the epidemic is strictly prohibited."

Regarding complaints filed by truck drivers about disrupted logistics, Han Jinghua, deputy director of the Ministry of Transport's department of transport services, said that authorities have set up hotlines to receive such problems and aim at addressing them in as little as two hours.

"Areas found to delay solving problems or commit similar mistakes over and over again will be publicly reported, so as to ensure smooth transport nationwide," he said.