Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, known as hometown of the pandas, has entered "wartime mode" after 7 domestic COVID-19 cases were found in 2 days.
4 new COVID-19 patients and a silent carrier were discovered on Tuesday(12.8) after two were reported the previous day(12.7).
3 regions in Chengdu are now medium-risk areas
Group 8, Yong'an Village, Tangchang Town, Pidu District, Chengdu
Taiping Village, Pitong Street, Pidu District, Chengdu
Huadu Yunjingtai Community, Cuijiadian, Chenghua District, Chengdu
Infected girl attacked online for visiting several bars and other social venues
Among the confirmed cases, a 20-year old girl surnamed Zhao, a newly-confirmed patient on Tuesday (granddaughter of a previously infected old couple) was targeted online and labeled by some netizens as the person to blame for the Chengdu outbreak because of her frequent visits to social venues, bars and clubs across the city.
Picture: From Weibo
The official announcement shows she had been to various parts of the city, including a nail salon, park, restaurants, and several clubs in the past 14 days.
The announcement, however, has led to online accusations blaming her for spreading the virus across the city and saying she's indecent.
Zhao's personal information has been unearthed by netizens and forwarded on multiple social platforms. Her name, ID number, home address, photos and other personal information are suspected of being leaked.
Some netizens had criticized the woman due to her previous history of frequent, questioning why she still went to bars after her grandparents went to the hospital, while some even passed judgment on her looks.
Some defended Zhao, saying her activities were pretty normal. 「If reporting whereabouts generates cyberbullying, patients will hesitate to tell epidemiological investigators about their activities, which is a bigger threat to public health」
Official stresses privacy protection; Man punished for leaking girl's personal info
The Party chief of Sichuan called for patients' privacy to be protected, psychological counseling to be conducted among the public and a resolute crackdown on cyberbullying.
In the meantime, a man was given administrative punishment by Chengdu police for posting a photo containing the patient Zhao's personal information and record of movements, local police announced.
The victim apologized for "causing trouble" for her city
「I saw a torrent of online rumors about me, many of which were slanderous and abusive," Zhao said in a statement released on news platform TouTiao. "I truly don’t understand why so many people attacked me. I just caught the virus. I am also a victim."
「I got six phone calls in one minute," Zhao said. "I tried not to look at the abusive online comments, but people kept sending messages attacking me. I cooperated with the epidemiological investigation the second I was confirmed. I reported my whereabouts truthfully in order to prevent the virus from spreading."
She stated her job is in marketing for clubs.
Zhao said her symptoms are mild and urged the public to wear masks and avoid crowds.
Her statement has been viewed almost 42 million times, with 310,000 likes and 70,000 overwhelmingly supportive comments, just four hours after it was published.
The city is expanding nucleic acid testing and carrying out virus gene sequencing to curb the spread of COVID-19 and identify the source of the outbreak.
What's your view about the infected girl being attacked online?
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