- The recommendations have puzzled health experts.
- I’ve never heard of this happening before, where COVID-19 particles travel such great distances.
- The river is hundreds of meters wide, although much narrower in some stretches.
Officials speculated that COVID-19 was carried in by the wind. Scientists are pessimistic as reported by Vice.
Recent spike in cases
A Chinese city on the border with North Korea is advising residents to close their windows, fearing that particles carrying the coronavirus could spread through the wind from its neighbour.
COVID-19 has been raging in North Korea since the authorities revealed a huge surge in cases in May, despite two years of denial that the country had any infections.
Dandong, China’s border city, has fared much better, although a recent spike in cases has required severe pandemic preparations. Despite the increased lockdowns, more persons continued to test positive for the virus on a daily basis. Because local officials have been unable to determine the source of the outbreak, residents living along the Yalu River, which separates the two countries, have been advised to close their windows.
Particles travelling
Experts in the field of medicine are baffled by the advice. “This is the first time I’ve heard of COVID-19 particles travelling such enormous distances,” said Leo Poon, a public health expert at the University of Hong Kong, to VICE World News. The river is hundreds of metres broad in some places, but considerably narrower in others.
Poon’s statement was repeated by Toshikazu Abe, director of emergency care at Tsukuba Memorial Hospital. “Perhaps COVID-19 going within a vast gymnasium, but crossing villages?” He told VICE World News, “I don’t think so.”
Hasty response
The rash of new COVID-19 cases in Dandong, as well as officials’ hasty response to the virus’s spread, reflect China’s ongoing challenges with its zero-COVID policy.
Unlike many other countries that saw large breakouts during the pandemic, China is committed to eradicating the virus entirely within its borders. Millions were placed under lengthy lockdown in March, when the country was experiencing its biggest outbreak since Wuhan due to an Omicron subvariant, resulting in food shortages, panic buying, and officials killing COVID-19 afflicted pets.
Despite the fact that restrictions in Shanghai and other Chinese cities have begun to loosen after two months, a handful of fresh COVID-19 cases have been found, and some neighbourhoods have been placed under lockdown once more.
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Source: Vice
