China’s COVID-19 monitoring app that scrutinizes the movement of its citizens crashed Xi’an this week worsening the lockdown conditions in the province. Categorized as the largest outbreak after Wuhan, Xi’an authorities have barred residents from going out for essential services. The crash has toughened jobs of screening and contact tracing created hurdles for the people seeking medical attention.
Liu Jun, Director, Bureau of Finance and Data Analytics was dismissed over performance failures after the health code system that runs under him broke down on Tuesday.
The crash created hustle as the locals were unable to access their COVID infection status after Xi’an commenced its nucleic acid tests. As per the govt’s statement, it is presumed that the crash was due to overwhelming traffic that caused technical issues. Reportedly, a technical glitch was also reported by the data bureau in December as well.
Social media flooded with criticism and complaints as patients faced issues in receiving timely treatment at hospitals already overwhelmed by the virus. The city was put under lockdown after a big jump in the tally was recorded. With more than 1,700 cases, residents amidst lockdown face a shortage of food and medical supplies. These strict measures come to the fore ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics next month. So far, no cases of the Omicron variant have been reported in Mainland China.