Public health workers wearing full protective gear have appeared on the streets of northern China, evoking memories of the country’s stringent anti-virus measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The hazmat-clad personnel were seen spraying disinfectant in public spaces in Sanhe, in China’s northern Hebei Province roughly 50 miles east of capital Beijing, according to the poster of the images and video footage. It remains unclear whether this was a local government initiative or central government directive.
The reemergence of the gear, however, has raised speculation about the potential return of pandemic-era restrictions amid a surge of respiratory illnesses, notably among children, which has strained hospitals in the region, reports News Week.
The outbreak is being closely watched by the World Health Organization, the agency said last week.
COVID Trauma Returns
In the past days, China’s state-controlled media have reported on hospitals in Beijing, Tianjin and other northern areas operating at maximum capacity. Beijing Children’s Hospital alone reported admitting over 7,000 daily cases, one report said.
Patients said they experienced closed outpatient clinics and long lines, some enduring waits of a day or longer at emergency departments.
On Douyin, the Chinese version of the short video-sharing platform TikTok, videos showed disease prevention teams disinfecting a classroom and city streets while dressed from head to toe in hazmat suits.
Termed “dabai,” literally “big white [figures],” the hazmat workers became a symbol of China’s unpopular “zero-COVID” policies that triggered rare anti-government protests late last year. Their appearance has unsettled observers online.
“Oh, my God. It’s almost 2024 and this familiar scene is back!” one netizen wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“The dabai are here again! Can we really say there won’t be [epidemic] controls again?” another responded.
The public’s memory of the workers included their strict enforcement of anti-virus policies, such as involuntary quarantine at home, the forced removal of suspected cases from their homes, and—in a number of high-profile incidents—the killing of pets or stray animals.
The trauma in the public’s consciousness was such that a few individuals chose a dabai costume for Shanghai’s recent Halloween parade.
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Source: News Week
