Authorities in China’s Chongqing city have criticized the health system’s decision to put people in long queues for corona testing in heavy Hamsin, as the region grapples with heat waves, fires, severe drought and power outages. The tests were conducted while forest fires are raging in the area
Residents of the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing lined the streets over the weekend to be tested for corona, despite extreme temperatures that rose above 40 degrees Celsius this week. Photos posted on Chinese social media also showed health workers testing residents, other photos showed the tests being conducted while forest fires raged in the background, Reuters news agency reported.
Chinese city’s residents made to queue for Covid tests in heat above 40C https://t.co/AMT0lT66me
— The Guardian (@guardian) August 26, 2022
The city of more than 31 million people reported eight new cases of corona last Friday. The authorities said that as of midnight on Thursday there were 105 cases in the city.
The Chinese city’s latest efforts to deal with a new outbreak of the coronavirus came as the city was engulfed in a prolonged heat wave, raging fires and a severe drought that led to power outages. More than 70 days of extreme temperatures and low rainfall have wreaked havoc along the river in a city that supports more than 450 million people and a third of the country’s crops.
Last Tuesday, several Chinese government agencies issued an urgent joint emergency statement, warning that the autumn harvest was under “severe threat”. The government also called on local authorities to ensure that “every unit of water is used carefully”.