A city in northern China is offering rewards of $ 77 to anyone who reports a resident who has not recently undergone a coronavirus test
The offer from the Nangong government comes as millions are being tested in the city and surrounding Hebei area as part of efforts to control the recent worst uprising in COVID-19.
Offering money or other rewards for information about non-political or social supporters in China has a long history, but the pandemic is resurfacing the practice. Those found incapable will be required to undergo a two-week trial and quarantine at their own expense.
China has largely controlled localized transmission through the use of measures that some think are outrageous and annoying, including locks of cities and a close electronic inspection of a ban on travel to and from. from parts of the country.
With next month’s Lunar New Year travel trip approaching, the government is urging people to stay as long as possible and not to travel to or from the capital Beijing, worrying on the most important time in the country for family gatherings. Schools are also releasing a week early, although many, including those in Hebei, have already returned to online learning.
China on Friday reported 53 new cases, including 33 in Hebei. Of those, 31 were in the regional capital Shijiazhuang, hosting some of the events for next year’s Winter Olympics.
Other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
– Thailand reported 205 new virus cases, a slight decrease from previous days as it tightened control of domestic travel. Taweesilp Visanuyothin, a spokesman for the COVID-19 coordination center, said Friday that 131 of the new cases were local referrals, 58 migrant workers and 16 international arrivals. That brought the total to 9,841 in the country, including 67 deaths. Of that total, 5,367 cases have been detected since the new increase began in December. 15. Diseases have arisen after months with very few cases seen. Most of the new cases have been migrant workers from neighboring Myanmar employed in seafood markets and factories in an area adjacent to Bangkok. Most were quarantined in their bedrooms and in quickly established field hospitals. Many of the remaining cases were blamed on traveling gamblers, most of them coming from one hot spot outside Bangkok last month.
– Australia is close to halving the number of passengers allowed on a plane in a bid to stop the spread of an infectious variant of the first identified coronavirus in Britain. A cleaning machine at a Brisbane quarantine hotel tested by COVID-19 on Wednesday is the first of its kind to be found in the Australian community. Other cases were found among travelers while in a hotel quarantine, where there is little risk of community dispersal. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said state leaders had agreed to cut international entrants to New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia state airports until February. 15. Arrivals in Victoria were already relatively low and would remain unchanged. Quarantine workers would be tested for the virus on a daily basis. Authorities in Brisbane are locking Australia’s third most populous city down for three days starting Friday afternoon to keep the spread out. Australian Health Chief Paul Kelly said anyone who had been in Brisbane since Jan. 2 should be lonely as well.
– Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was vaccinated against the coronavirus on Friday as the island nation began vaccinating their small population. He gave his first vaccinations, manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech, on December. 23 and hopes to cover its total population of about 4.5 million and its foreign residents. The vaccine will be free. It has not been said how many bought it but he hopes to protect everyone by the third quarter of 2021. Health workers and the elderly will be among the first to receive the vaccine.