Corona and Democracy - China

Information on COVID-19 measures and democracy

23 January:

• Wuhan, Huanggang and Ezhou (all in the Hubei province) are put on lockdown, followed by 12 more cities in the Hubei province, suspending all public transport
  • China coronavirus: Lockdown measures rise across Hubei province
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12 February:

• Yunnan province announces that everyone must scan QR codes displayed in public places when they go there
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15 February:

• Housing complexes in some cities have issued the equivalents of paper hall passes to regulate how often residents leave their homes
• Residential lockdowns of varying strictness now affect at least 760 million people in China
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15 June:

• Parts of Beijing surrounding a Seafood market have been put on lockdown, after a period of 56 days without any new cases, was put to a halt
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28 June:

• Half a million people living in a province surrounding the capital have been put under lockdown, due to a new coronavirus outbreak
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24 February:

• China postpones National People's Congress, their annual parliamentary meeting
  • Coronavirus: China postpones National People's Congress

29 April:

• China announces a new date for its annual parliamentary meeting, set two and a half months after the original date
  • China unveils new date for legislative meeting delayed by Coronavirus

21 January:

• China Communist Party law and order body warns that anyone who tries to hide the spread of the disease will be "nailed on the pillar of shame for eternity"
  • China’s credibility on the line as it tries to dispels fears it will cover up spread of Wuhan virus

15 February:

• Hangzhou has barred pharmacies from the sale of medicines for the treatment of fever and cough to the public, forcing them to seek treatment at a hospital
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23 February:

• Migrant workers are laid off and have limited access to healthcare, schools, pensions and other social benefits. Local officials offer little to no help and barr many migrants from crossing city lines to seek work elsewhere
  • Coronavirus Lockdowns Torment an Army of Poor Migrant Workers in China

1 March:

• As citizens are encouraged to return to work, they are now required to use Alipay on their phone, through which they are assigned a color code, indicating their health status. Though the location and other information is also shared with the police.
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3 March:

• Many severely ill patients are cut off from vital supplies of medicine, denied surgeries or not admitted to hospitals due to coronavirus security measures
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14 March:

• The Chinese government has detained numerous activists, as well as Communist Party members who have voiced critique of the government's handling of the Coronavirus outbreak, among others, the legal activist Xu Zhiyong, as well as Ren Zhiqiang, CPC member
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6 July:

• The Chinese government detained Xu Zhangru, a law professor, who critiqued Ci Jinping over the coronavirus pandemic and consolidation of power
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15 February:

• Multiple tracing apps have been adopted, among which, an app developed by the state-run maker of military electronics, in which Chinese citizens may register to see if they have come in contact with a carrier
• In other cases authorities have also demanded that citizens share their location data
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1 March:

• As citizen return to their workplace the government requires they use Alipay on their phone which assigns a color code based on the ehealth status of the citizen and shares this information with the police and other authorities, without making this fact clear to the user
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30 December:

• Ai Fen, a top director at Wuhan Central Hospital, and Li Wenliang a doctor at the hospital post information about the coronavirus on WeChat. They are questioned as a result and told to refrain from sharing information
  • Coronavirus: Wuhan doctor speaks out against authorities

31 December:

• China informs the WHO of the new coronavirus
  • Early missteps and state secrecy in China likely allowed Coronavirus spread farther faster

1 January:

• Wuhan Public Security Bureau questions multiple doctors for sharing information about the coronavirus on WeChat

• The Hubei Provincial Health Commission orders labs to stop testing and destroy samples of the virus
  • How early signs of the coronavirus were spotted, spread and throttled in China

2 January:

• The complete coronavirus genetic information is mapped, however only made public on January 9th.
  • How it all started: China's early coronavirus missteps

17 March:

• The Chinese government expels journalists working for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Additionally, the three news organizations, as well as the Voice of America and Time magazine, were ordered to provide the Chinese government with information about their operation.
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3 April:

• Chinese officials force citizens to hold quiet burials, in an effort to reduce publicity about coronavirus deaths
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