The Mayor of the north-eastern city of Dandong, home to 2.4 million people, says government work and basic services had been 'unsatisfactory' and tells residents pandemic controls will be changing.
The Mayor of a Chinese city on the North Korean border that has been locked down for more than 50 days has apologised amid widespread dissatisfaction over the government's heavy-handed COVID-19 response.
It is highly unusual for a ranking Communist Party official to publicly concede errors, particularly regarding the hardline zero-COVID policy that has been repeatedly endorsed by top officials under President and party leader Xi Jinping.At a meeting with residents, Mr Hao acknowledged the sacrifices made by the city's 2.4 million citizens, along with the "complaining voices" among them over the government's work.
Dandong would now move into a stage of pandemic control that would be "more proactive, more active and more effective", he said.Unable to root out the source of new COVID-19 cases, Dandong officials took increasingly extreme measures, some of them of questionable scientific merit. That included recommending residents close their windows to prevent the virus being blown in from North Korea, even though its ability to spread through the air is extremely limited.
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