Chinese censors have been ordered to flood social media with innocuous posts about Xinjiang to drown out mounting complaints of food and medication shortages in the region, according to a report.
The Yili prefecture is home to 4.5 million people and is thought to have been put into lock down in August after an outbreak of Covid-19. Food shortages, delays or refusals of medical care have been the subject of recent posts on social media.
According to a leaked directive, censors were told to open a campaign of comment flooding to drown them out.
There is a lot of desperation in the Covid lock down.
It said there were no subject matter restrictions. Domestic life, daily parenting, cooking, or personal moods can be included in the content. Internet commentary personnel should post once an hour but not in rapid succession. Don't repeat in rapid succession.
In a sample of posts, users shared photos of Xinjiang cuisine and idyllic environments, but were quickly attacked as suspected attempts to "dilute" the discussion about the lock down.
The posts about Yili scenery and food are coming from different accounts. Nice job. One commented, "Have you ever heard of maintaining a shred of dignity?"
The site of a years long government campaign of oppression against the Muslim population is under a higher degree of political control than most of China. The majority of the residential population is made up of Han Chinese and Uyghurs. It has become a drawcard for domestic tourism, particularly Yili, which is located in the border area with Kazakhstan.
The locals have tried many things to let the outside world know about their situation in Yili.
We are locked inside and don't have enough supplies, yet they opened the scenic areas to help us.
Hundreds of thousands of comments and posts were prompted by complaints from people struggling during the more than 40 day lockdown. A pregnant woman was sent home from a hospital that was closing, another woman and her baby were denied entry to their home after giving birth, and an elderly man was denied entry after he vomited in the emergency room.
Ahead of a party summit, 65 million people are put into semi-lockdown.
One reported comment said, "We really can't take this anymore, children who have a 40 degreefever can't even see a doctor, pregnant women can't even get into the hospital."
Deaths and suicides have been denied by authorities. They apologized in a press conference last week after acknowledging there had been problems with food and medical supplies.
One person said that they first said it was fake and then apologized. The entire city has been silent for over a month.
After two to three more rounds of testing, the Yili health official said the remaining lockdowns would be lifted.
China's national health commission reported over one thousand local cases on Sunday. The national health commission has reported about 200 local cases in the last week.
Less than two months out from a hugely significant political meeting, Chinese government officials are under pressure to contain and eliminate outbreak. China's "dynamic zero" strategy has seen continued widespread lockdowns and other restrictions implemented suddenly and without warning on cities, neighbourhoods, and individual residences.
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