China forms working groups to monitor COVID-19 restrictions: Reports

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The Chinese government has formed specific working groups to guarantee that local authorities do not overstep their bounds when imposing COVID-19 regulations in the country, as per the Global Times newspaper.

According to the media outlet, the groups were formed at the initiative of the Chinese National Health Commission and its Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to control the implementation of COVID-19 measures, monitor population PCR testing, and assist epidemiological investigators in collecting not to mention sharing information about the situation in the country.

On this issue, a researcher at the CDC, Wang Liping, was quoted as saying by the Chinese media outlet that the decision to form the working groups was made after two major errors in the implementation of COVID-19 measures became apparent.

Local authorities either entirely segregated the population, sparking a surge of nationwide protests, or altogether abandoned safeguards. Wang stressed that the newly formed working group's mission is to avoid such incidents.

The deputy director of Beijing's Chaoyang district, Yang Beibei, stated on Sunday that the local authorities would eliminate COVID-19 restrictions as soon as possible after taking the appropriate steps to minimize the impact of the measures on the lives of city residents amid widespread outrage.

For several days now, COVID-19 instances in China have reached new highs. In the last 24 hours, the country has recorded 40,347 instances, including 3,822 symptomatic and 36,525 asymptomatic cases.

Because of multiple local COVID-19 outbreaks and the deterioration of the country's epidemiological condition, Chinese authorities have implemented partial lockdowns in some locations, while also requiring individuals to undergo PCR testing on a daily basis. Restrictive measures, in particular, have been tightened in a number of China's largest cities, most notably Beijing and Shanghai.

It is worth noting that the new restrictions have resulted in a rise in nationwide protests. On November 24, a fire broke out at a residential building in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, killing ten people. 

Many people believe that if the government had not enforced rigid COVID-19 limitations on the residential complex, the deaths could have been avoided.

The regional authorities have initiated an extensive investigation into the terrible incident and have vowed to bring anybody suspected of negligence to justice.