China just launched a high-tech 5,000-room quarantine facility in Guangzhou. But even though this is considered a welcome development in the country, Chinese residents and foreigners couldn't help but worry. After all, the building of a quarantine facility suggests that China has no plans to ease its restrictions anytime soon.
According to reports, China is one of the few countries still pushing for a COVID-zero strategy. This means that the country will only ease down the travel, quarantine, and lockdown restrictions when all COVID-19 cases are eradicated.
Chinese nationals and foreigners believe that it would take a while before the country reaches its goal. After all, the COVID-19 cases in China are still increasing.
Guangzhou's quarantine facility equipped with a robot
While waiting for things to normalize, China launched a 5,000 room quarantine facility equipped with 5G communication technology and artificial intelligence structure.
Each room can only accommodate one person at a time. And to ensure that those quarantining will be safe, the Guangzhou government will use a robot delivery system to avoid human contact.
The construction of the massive quarantine facility was completed after just three months, which is no surprise. After all, China managed to build fully-functioning hospitals in Wuhan at the start of the pandemic last year.
But as impressive as these developments are, Chinese individuals are convinced that the country has no plans to ease restrictions.
"On one hand you have experts such as Zhong Nanshan and Gao Fu suggesting that once the vaccination rate in China reached over 85 percent, then it's about time to open up. But on the other hand, all the measures in place seem to suggest that Beijing is going to sustain the zero-tolerance strategy," Yanzhong Huang, a fellow at the Washington DC-based Council on Foreign Relations, said via Al Jazeera.
China wants to shift from using hotels
Earlier this month, reports revealed that China is building its quarantine facilities not necessarily because there is no plan to ease restrictions in the country.
Instead, some cities in China want to shift away from using hotels for netizens' quarantine needs.
At the time, National Health Commission official Cui Gang said that there should be 20 quarantine rooms per 10,000 people available in Chinese cities by the end of the month, according to SCMP.
Other Chinese cities are building their quarantine hub
According to reports, travelers going to Guangzhou will be transferred on buses directly from the airport and confined to their rooms for at least two weeks.
However, various destinations in China enforce different quarantine rules. For instance, Shanghai requires a 21-day quarantine upon arrival in the city. The first 14 days are classified as centralized quarantine, and the last seven days of quarantine will be done at home.
Beijing has an additional seven days of quarantine, also known as the health monitoring period, which is on top of the 21-day quarantine.
According to CNN, Dongguan is currently building its international health station that will feature 2,000 rooms. Shenzhen is also building its hub, and more cities across China are expected to follow.
