How China fights Chikungunya: Officials barge into home at the dead of night, take blood samples of sleeping 'patients'

As China takes measures to fight the Chikungunya virus spreading across the south of the country, accusations of Chinese officials infringing on people’s privacy rights have started to emerge.

A single mother living in Zhanjiang, a port city in Guangdong province, posted a video on social media this week showing a group of people, including a uniformed police officer, entering her children’s bedroom in the middle of the night and taking blood samples. In the video, the mother mentioned that the whole ordeal took place without the mother’s presence or consent.

The officers barged into the home in the middle of the night while the mother was working a night shift and was not at home. The video went viral instantly with 90 million views on Weibo, and Chinese media reported that a local pharmacy had alerted the local authorities after the son had a fever, The Guardian reported. Many soon started raising concerns about privacy rights in the country.

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China imposes strict measures

Health authorities in Guangdong were on high alert because of an outbreak of Chikungunya that started about a month ago in Foshan, a city 260km from Zhanjiang. As per the government data, there have been about 8,000 reported cases in the country so far, along with at least one imported case in Hong Kong, a city that borders Guangdong.

Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne disease that can only be spread by being bitten by an insect carrying the virus. It is a non-fatal mosquito-borne disease that can be cured with medical attention. Symptoms of the disease include fever, muscle and joint pain, nausea and a rash. In rare cases, symptoms can last for months or even years. But it is rarely fatal.

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However, babies, elderly people and people with underlying health conditions are most at risk. It is pertinent to note that Chikungunya outbreaks are quite common in Asia, Africa and the Americas, but this is the first time that there has been a major occurrence in China.

In the past, people took to the streets to protest against strict COVID-19 prevention measures undertaken by the Chinese authorities. On 2 August, Wang Weizhong, Guangdong’s governor, said that China would “strive to win the battle against the Chikungunya fever epidemic” and ordered a range of measures.

Some of these measures included eradicating mosquito breeding grounds such as pools of stagnant water, mobilising the public to empty pots and pans that might be collecting water, encouraging the use of mosquito coils and nets and using mosquito repellent.

However, the authorities have also been resurrecting surveillance and reporting measures which hark back to the zero-COVID era, in which people’s daily lives were strictly monitored and controlled. On August 4, the Foshan local authorities announced that all pharmacies would have to report the sale of certain drugs used for treating fevers.

This appears to be the reason why the children in Zhanjiang were identified. Following the outrage online, local authorities said that they are investigating the matter.