Thursday 16 June 2022 02:13 AM Chinese authorities 'use Covid tracking system to lock down residents and ... trends now

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Authorities in central China allegedly used the country's powerful Covid tracking system to stop an anticipated protest, state media reported, sparking furious condemnation online on Wednesday.

China relies on a vast coronavirus surveillance infrastructure to carry out rigorous contact tracing as part of its zero-Covid strategy to stamp out all outbreaks.

Residents are required to scan codes on their smartphones to access public venues and transport nationwide. Those with red codes - either infected themselves or contacts of a Covid case - have their movement severely restricted.

But several reports emerged this week of disgruntled bank customers receiving red code alerts on their devices as they attempted to travel to Henan province's capital Zhengzhou to demand access to their money after withdrawals were frozen last month.

'Seeing this sent shivers down my spine. Uncontrolled power is too frightening,' wrote a user on Weibo, a Twitter-like social media platform, where hashtags related to the reports were trending Wednesday with tens of millions of views.

'It's clearly abuse of power,' read another comment.