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The city-wide disinfection campaign in epidemic-hit Xi'an city in China's Shaanxi Province has triggered controversy online.
The latest outbreak in Xi'an has affected 21 cities in 15 provinces and regions, including Shaanxi, South China's Guangdong Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, as of Monday evening, according to Global Times. Earlier, videos and pictures of disinfection teams operating on the Xi'an's street were circulated online after the anti-epidemic command of Xi'an government announced that the mass disinfection had started since Sunday afternoon. Many netizens said that disinfecting the entire city may lack scientific support and go against the anti-epidemic guidance by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which says disinfection should be confined to places where those with COVID-19 had visited. Also, experts expressed that COVID-19 is a respiratory infectious disease which transmits through human-to-human physical contact. The outdoor disinfection doesn't work on COVID-19, it can also cause damage to ecological environment, according to Global Times. Prior to the city-wide disinfection, the anti-epidemic command warned the public to close their windows, remove clothes from clotheslines, and avoid touching outer surfaces of buildings and plants. Some netizens and experts felt the city-wide disinfection is necessary. Since Xi'an's epidemiological studies are very ambiguous and people can contract the virus through touching contaminated surfaces, it makes disinfection of the environment important, according to Global Times. Videos showed teams in Xi'an disinfecting streets around the Drum Tower, a landmark of the city. Xi'an was previously accused of having relatively poor city governance as the local implementation of the country's strategy of pursuing a dynamic zero-case situation was plagued with problems, such as ambiguous epidemiological studies and a crashed health code system, according to Global Times. (ANI)
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