Current Virus Hotspot in China Was Once Praised by Regime for Successful Prevention Work

Residents undergo Covid-19 tests at a makeshift testing center inside a residential compound in Shijiazhuang, in northern Hebei Province on Jan. 16, 2021.(STR/CNS/AFP via Getty Images)

Gaocheng district of Shijiazhuang city, Hebei Province, is one of the hardest-hit regions in the latest resurgence of the CCP virus in China.

The entire district was designated by authorities as an area at high-risk for virus spread.

Despite lockdown measures, the outbreak continued to worsen.

In recent weeks, officials were dismissed for failing to contain the outbreak effectively.

On Jan. 6, Feng Zhiqiang, deputy district head of Gaocheng district and three others were questioned by the Party for their ineffective epidemic prevention. Feng was also given an administrative warning.

On Jan. 21, the official website of Gaocheng district announced that the local Party Secretary Zhang Juhua and district mayor Yuan Lihua were dismissed.

Since Jan. 25, all residents in Shijiazhuang’s medium and high-risk regions were required to take COVID-19 nucleic acid tests once every two days.

The Epoch Times has recently obtained two internal documents issued by the Hebei provincial government last year, whereby it described Gaocheng district was praised as a model for fighting the epidemic and getting businesses to reopen.

One document contained notes from the Shijiazhuang Party Secretary Xing Guohui’s speech on March 5, 2020. During the speech, he praised Gaocheng district’s virus prevention efforts.

“The work done in the counties, urban areas, and this section is good, especially in Gaocheng. The resumption rate of companies has reached 100 percent. The resumption of operations for small and medium-sized businesses has also topped other areas. The production rate is also very high.”

Xing also said that Hebei’s rural areas were doing well. “I have been to many places in rural areas, and the Party organization’s arrangements are very powerful,” Xing said, according to the document.

However, the outbreak in Gaocheng district this time has been concentrated in rural areas, such as in Xiaoguozhuang village.

The Epoch Times also obtained an internal briefing, dated Feb. 25, 2020, issued by the Gaocheng district economic development zone.

An internal briefing about Gaocheng district's efforts to reopen businesses during the pandemic. (Provided to The Epoch Times)

The briefing was about reopening businesses and resuming production. The document boasted that Gaocheng district “grasped economic and social development.”

The briefing stated that as of Feb 25, all 14 companies of a designated size that were located at a local industrial park had started production, 7 enterprises of smaller sizes resumed production, and construction sites also partially started

In March last year, Chinese media reported that though some workplaces in the country reopened, production could not resume normal capacity right away.

As countries around the world were also hit by the pandemic, factories that primarily manufactured products for export did not receive enough orders and struggled to remain open.