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.
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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.
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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.
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 fe