Chinese city offers big cash rewards for clues to coronavirus outbreak

 

• A city in China is offering nearly $16,000 to residents with information about its latest COVID-19 outbreak.
• People should report instances of illegal hunting, animal smuggling, and border crossing to fish, and those who withhold information will be severely punished.
• The move is part of China’s wider effort to contain the virus as it faces its worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic.

Authorities in China are offering cash rewards to residents of one city with information about the spread of the delta variant of COVID-19.

City officials in Heihe, a northeastern Chinese city that shares a border with Russia, said on Monday that 100,000 yuan, or just under $16,000, would be given in exchange for tips on the city’s latest COVID-19 outbreak, with new infections totaling 240, the Guardian reported.

“It is hoped that the general public could actively cooperate with the tracing of the virus and provide clues to the probe,” officials said in a statement, according to state media. Residents of the city should immediately report instances of illegal hunting, animal smuggling, or crossing the border into Russia to fish.

People who intentionally withhold or conceal information related to the probe will face “severe punishment” if caught, while those who have committed minor violations and have turned themselves in could be pardoned.

China’s government has recently been struggling to maintain its zero-COVID policy, which includes tight border control and lengthy quarantines for international travelers, and is currently facing its most widespread outbreak since the start of the pandemic.

South of Heihe, authorities in China’s Henan province promised this week to contain the virus’ resurgence by Nov. 15 after kindergarten children in at least five places fell ill. Party secretary Lou Yangsheng said local governments should enhance epidemiological investigations and contact tracing efforts.

Tracing measures have also been expanded in Chengdu, a city in China’s Sichuan province, where people are subject to mandatory testing and self-isolation if their mobile phones transmit through the same cell tower as someone with COVID-19 over a two-week period.

Meanwhile, health officials are calling for increased vaccinations, particularly for children, and booster shots.

“We have seen increased infections in children, with the rates of severe illness and mortality surpassing influenza in some countries…and the hospitalization rate for children is now more than 10 times higher than earlier this year,” Wang Qinghua, chief immunologist of the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a press conference over the weekend, according to state media.

https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/580776-chinese-city-offers-big-cash-rewards-for-clues