Chinese truckers left stranded for days at highway exit by hardline COVID curbs

By Martin Quin Pollard

BEIJING (Reuters) – Earlier this month Chinese language truck driver Dong Zhigang completed a job within the coastal metropolis of Nantong and started what ought to have been a four-hour journey north to his residence village in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province. On Friday, 9 sticky days in his cab later, he nonetheless had not made it residence.

Like many Chinese language truckers, Dong, 30, had fallen sufferer to a few of the nation’s current hardline anti-COVID measures and disruption as native authorities scramble to take care of China’s zero-COVID coverage.

He acquired so far as a freeway exit resulting in his village earlier than he was advised by officers that to enter he would wish to do 14 days of centralised quarantine costing at the least 240 RMB per day adopted by an extra seven days of residence quarantine.

“We couldn’t afford this,” the father-of-two advised Reuters, referring to the group of 4 to 5 truckers he waited with.

Dong had a destructive COVID take a look at consequence that day and had not been to any medium or high-risk areas. However the officers have been in no temper for dialogue.

He stated he was advised: “I do not care the place you will have come from.”

Locals supplied the drivers with two takeaway meals a day however there have been no bathroom or bathe amenities.

On Thursday night a gaggle of over a dozen police in riot gear together with a number of SWAT officers advised Dong and his fellow drivers that they needed to go away their spot instantly or they might be fined and would lose their driving licenses.

The officers stated they didn’t care the place the drivers went, in accordance with Dong. So the group acquiesced and moved to a different exit additional up the freeway.

Later, a village official contacted the group and stated they may depend their days parked by the freeway in the direction of their 14 days in centralised quarantine, thus vastly lowering their prices.

Dong, determined to get residence to finish pressing work on the farm, agreed to go, and on Friday he was ready to enter quarantine. However at the least one member of the group, surnamed Wang, advised Reuters he would keep put.

Tons of of toll stations at exits from highways and freeway service stations have been shut throughout the nation this month, official information has proven.

“I might drive for seven or eight hours and not using a break,” Dong stated. “There was nowhere to get off the freeway.”

After a authorities push earlier this week to open up routes, this quantity has dropped in lots of areas. However as of midnight on Thursday, 91 toll station freeway exits and 44 freeway service stations in Jiangsu province remained closed, authorities information confirmed.

Jiangsu’s authorities didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters request for touch upon this or on Dong’s lengthy wait.

Whereas COVID-related necessities differ extensively throughout China, many localities have been taking more and more cautious approaches just lately.

Dong stated that his order numbers and earnings had dropped by half for the reason that begin of March as a result of influence of the COVID insurance policies he had encountered.

He has additionally witnessed the aftermath of a number of accidents this month and worries that that is associated to fatigue.

“After this quarantine is over, I do not wish to drive any extra,” he stated. “I suppose I’ll keep on the farm.”

(Reporting by Martin Quin Pollard; Enhancing by Hugh Lawson)