China Back in Pandemic Mode! Daily Blood Tests for the Poor, Mass Disinfection, All Cases Isolated

Someone in Shantou, Guangdong, recently filmed crews spraying chemicals along the streets. In the video, he said dengue fever was getting worse. Crews came every day, sometimes several times a day. He said the spray filled the whole street and was a real nuisance. People online noticed that disease control crews now wear blue or black uniforms. Some thought it was an effort to distance themselves from the widely criticized crews in white protective suits seen during the pandemic. But seeing teams carry the same gear from street to street, leaving clouds of choking white mist, brought back memories of pandemic controls in China. Move aside, move aside, a dengue fever control worker shouted as he entered a company reception area. The room quickly filled with a mist that made it hard to breathe. The owner covered his nose and mouth with his shirt, but after a few seconds, he had to rush out. China's National Disease Control and Prevention Administration placed Guangdong in its highest prevention and control category under its 2026 plan for dengue and chikungunya. The risk of imported cases and local spread has continued to rise in Guangdong and several other southern provinces since the summer compared with previous years. Residents said many white modular units had appeared, much like the ones used during the pandemic in 2020. They said hospitals set them up as isolation wards and kept anyone who tested positive there. Disease control crews and medical workers were all over the streets. They sprayed storefronts and told all residents to get nucleic acid tests. After the first test, people were told to line up for a blood draw. Someone at the site shouted for anyone who still needed a nucleic acid test to come over because it was free. Another video showed a testing site still lit up late at night. With long lines of people waiting, one local wrote that dengue had left them barely able to move, with weak limbs and aching joints. Another pointed out that there were more mosquitoes at night. They said people could have stayed home instead of gathering outside for blood draws and risking mosquito bites and infection. A woman who had just taken her sister-in-law to the hospital discovered she had also contracted dengue fever. I'm infected. I'm going to be taken to quarantine soon. I've got dengue fever and am about to be quarantined. I just finished my work and checked my phone to see several missed calls. My heart sank. Then I saw the messages, and a heavy shadow instantly descended upon me. Yesterday, my sister-in-law also developed a high fever and body aches. She thought it was just a cold and went to a clinic for an IV drip. She hadn't gotten better today, so she went to the hospital for a checkup and was diagnosed with dengue fever. She was immediately detained and will be quarantined for treatment. I also have an 8-year-old daughter and a 4-year-old son. Luckily, my parents and I live nearby, and there are people at home to take care of us. It's peak season now, so we must be extra careful. This disease isn't directly transmitted from person to person, Yesterday I posted a video, mainly to share with my friends why I haven't been running for the past few days. The reason is that I contracted dengue fever, so I haven't been able to run for 20 days. But I didn't expect so many friends to pay attention to dengue fever So today I'll share some of my personal experiences after contracting dengue fever. The vlogger said his fever reached 103 degrees Fahrenheit. He had a headache and pain in his joints and all over his body. A rapid test came back positive, and doctors admitted him for treatment in isolation. He received IV fluids, Chinese herbal medicine, and painkillers. A mild fever came and went for the first three days. It broke on the fourth. A follow-up blood test on the fifth day came back clear, and he went home after about four and a half days in the hospital. His only lingering symptom was a cough. He wasn't sure it was from dengue because ever since he had COVID, he had coughed for about two weeks after getting over any fever. He had no other lingering symptoms and didn't know how others had fared. Another netizen shared their experience. 没想到呢,我被蚊子咬了一口,被住院隔离了一个礼拜啊。 Who would have thought? I got bitten by a mosquito and ended up in the hospital for a week of isolation. So everyone should be careful of the mosquitoes in Guangdong lately, they're really venomous. Especially if you test positive twice, you'll need to be hospitalized and isolated. After so many years since the pandemic, I thought I'd hardly ever hear the word isolation again. But in fact, if you get bitten by a mosquito in Guangdong and are diagnosed with dengue fever or chikungunya, you'll need to be isolated, and in severe cases, hospitalized. And this disease is actually quite serious, because even after I tested negative, My joints still hurt and I'm often very weak. The vlogger said a mosquito bit him when he was hiking near Baiyun Mountain in Guangzhou a few days earlier, and he came down with chikungunya. He felt fine the first day. The next morning, his chest tightened, and he developed pain on both sides of his body in his fingers. Thumbs. Below his knees and along his shins and ankles. At first, he figured he'd overdone it exercising or strained his hand using a mouse. Joint pain on both sides is typical of the disease. The name chikungunya comes from an African language and means to bend. He said the pain was so bad he couldn't stand up straight. To get out of bed, he had to roll onto his side and ease himself down. He felt hot and cold, developed a rash and ran a fever of 104 degrees Fahrenheit. He took medicine to lower the fever, but warned against taking ibuprofen. He said both chikungunya and dengue carry a bleeding risk and that ibuprofen could affect platelet tests and complicate diagnosis. On the third day, chills ran through his whole body. It felt different from when he had influenza A, influenza B, or COVID, so he went to a nearby top-tier hospital. Staff drew seven tubes of blood, and the chikungunya and COVID test results took nearly two days. In the meantime, the doctor treated him for a viral cold and prescribed an antiviral and fever medicine. Still worried, he went to the emergency room at a neighboring hospital for an IV. A young doctor there also treated it as a cold and told him to hike and exercise more. The vlogger pointed out that he'd gotten sick after a mosquito bit him on a hike. He went to three hospitals and none identified the illness during those visits. One of the doctor's visits cost him an entire day. Once he finally got a diagnosis, he received two IV bags of paracetamol and took fever medicine. His fever broke that night but kept coming back, reaching over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The joint pain, rash, and fatigue continued, and his lips stayed pale. He said treatment focused on relieving symptoms and that there were no specific drugs or vaccines for the disease. After leaving the hospital and testing negative, he still felt weak and his joints still hurt. He considered his case relatively mild because he was young and fit. He said doctors and community workers told him the joint pain can last three to four months or six months or longer in some older adults. In some cases, joints can become deformed and lead to disability. People with underlying conditions can have more severe lasting symptoms. People online questioned why crews were spraying so widely, even when top-tier hospitals were slow to test patients. They pointed to a doctor advising a sick patient to hike and exercise more as another sign of problems in China's healthcare system. Meanwhile, a 28-year-old employee at a plague research center in Russia died of pneumonia of unknown origin. That raised questions about a possible leak of the bacterium that causes plague. Chinese authorities have moved to suppress rumors and reports. They recently disclosed one plague death without releasing details, raising public concern. On October 29th, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention posted its National Infectious Disease figures for September 2026. The agency recorded eight cases of Class A infectious diseases. Seven were cholera, and one was plague. One person died from plague. Officials gave no details about when or where that case occurred, and Chinese media appeared to have carried no coverage. Plague has persisted in China, with occasional deaths. Since 2010, mainland China has reported only sporadic cases each year, mostly in areas where plague occurs naturally, including Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Qinghai, and Yunnan. Most infections have been linked to contact with wildlife or activity in herding areas. In September 2019, Oksai County in Jiuquan, Gansu Province, reported one suspected plague case. On September 29, the case was confirmed as septicemic plague. The patient had died. That November, Chinese state media Xinhua reported that two people in Inner Mongolia had confirmed cases of pneumonic plague, which can spread from person to person. Listen. In August 2020, one person died of intestinal plague in Suji New Village in Baotou, Inner Mongolia. In 2022, Shan'an in Tibet reported one case of pneumonic plague. The patient became ill on September 24th and died the next day. In 2023, Inner Mongolia confirmed three plague cases in one week, all in the same family. China's National Disease Control and Prevention Administration reported two plague cases and one death in August 2024. Observers said news broke in October that a 28-year-old employee at a plague research institute in Russia had died in early October from pneumonia of unknown origin. About 200 people were placed in isolation or under medical observation. The full diagnosis and treatment records have yet to be released. fueling suspicions that authorities in Russia and neighboring China are withholding information. Observers questioned why China disclosed one plague death at that point while releasing so little about the case. Dr. Sean Lin, a microbiologist and former virology researcher at a U.S. Army Research Institute, said the case was troubling. The woman was young, worked at an institute that studies dangerous pathogens, and the exact cause of her illness was still unknown. He said Russia should release more of its findings so the public can understand the risk. Concerns about a possible accidental leak at the Russian lab prompted nearby areas to step up disease surveillance. Several parts of China issued plague prevention advisories, and unverified accounts of cases began to circulate. In a media interview on October 16, Sun Jingyang, a resident of Chengdu's Shuangliu district, said he had gone to a hospital with a fever. He said a doctor there told him that someone in Shuangliu had returned from Russia, fallen ill, and died. The doctor said it might have had something to do with plague. An employee at the Shuangliu District Center for Disease Control and Prevention told a journalist outside of China that the district has seen no plague cases or deaths. He also said agency rules required staff to keep confidential details such as where plague patients were hospitalized and whether anyone died. He said he couldn't discuss that information publicly. Some people said authorities in China and Russia may withhold information during emergencies and that keeping people in the dark can make them more fearful. Another report drew anger and concern. The ex-account, Teacher Li is Not Your Teacher, shared on October 30th a directive from the Education and Sports Bureau in Xinxiang, Henan Province. The directive told middle schools to reach an HPV vaccination rate of at least 80% by November 20th. Schools would be ranked by vaccination rate, and bureau officials would call in principals of the three lowest-ranked schools. Vaccination sites would be open 24 hours a day. Parents in Anhui, Shandong, Hunan and elsewhere described similar experiences in the comments. Some said homeroom teachers, administrators and even principals had called them in and told them to vaccinate their children. Others said schools kept summoning them to meetings or suggested that vaccination records would be checked for high school admission. One parent in Henan said their daughter came home Saying her teacher told her to get the HPV vaccine and said that parents shouldn't refuse. The parents said they didn't plan to go ahead. Another said parents who declined would be called back to meetings until they agreed. People in several areas questioned why schools were handling vaccinations and said the pressure made them reluctant to go ahead. One commenter said they had heard schools received a commission and that their child's homeroom teacher was calling every few days to push for vaccination. The commenter urged parents to refuse and keep pushing back. There have been earlier accounts of Chinese authorities pressuring minors to get the HPV vaccine. On June 16th, a school in Hunan held a meeting to urge parents to vaccinate their children. At the meeting, the school told parents vaccination would eventually be mandatory, would eventually be mandatory, and that students who skipped it wouldn't advance to the next level of school. One person in mainland China said school staff seemed more anxious than parents, and that they would refuse even if it meant their child couldn't attend school. Another said vaccination should be voluntary, and questioned why strangers would threaten people to make them take it. In February, Chinese state media said government had added the HPV vaccine to its national immunization program in 2025. At a briefing, China's National Disease Control and Prevention Administration said the National Health Commission would offer free HPV shots to 13-year-old girls. The vaccination service was included in a list of 10 public service initiatives for 2026. Township clinics and community health centers offer vaccinations on weekends. China's National Disease Control and Prevention Administration said several types of HPV vaccine are available in China. The national program uses the vaccine that protects against two HPV types, given in two doses spaced six months apart. The agency said the vaccine could prevent more than 70% of cervical cancers and reduce the risk of diseases caused by HPV. People can also pay for vaccines that protect against more types, including four-type and nine-type vaccines. Publicly available information shows that HPV spreads mainly through sexual contact, including contact with skin and mucous membranes. HPV infection can lead to cervical cancer and other genital cancers. HPV vaccination can lower the risk of cancers caused by the virus and help prevent genital lesions in men and women. Political commentator Li Muyang said on his program that the Chinese Communist Party was using schools to pressure students to get the vaccine. They seemed more eager than their parents. He questioned whether officials had the children's interests at heart and accused them of pursuing profit and putting lives at risk. Li said the national program offers a free vaccine that covers two HPV types, while schools and disease control centers are pushing vaccines that cover four or nine types and require families to pay. He said the nine-type vaccine in particular can cost several hundred to more than 1,000 yuan per dose, which parents would have to pay out of pocket. Li said drug makers, disease control centers, and schools were all connected through the purchase, distribution, and administration of vaccines. He argued that the more doses they gave, the more money they made. He compared it to the push for Chinese-made COVID vaccines, when he said local authorities had intensified the pressure at each level, and large sums changed hands. He said ordinary people ultimately footed the bill. Li's second point was that abuse of privilege was widespread in mainland China. He accused officials and wealthy business people of colluding with schools and using them to target students. He suggested that pressuring families to take part in a public health program could help shield powerful people from scrutiny over criminal conduct. Li's third point was that the program was a way to tighten control over what students think and what happens to their bodies. He compared pressure to get the HPV vaccine to the earlier push for Chinese-made COVID vaccine. He attributed a range of lasting health problems to those poor quality vaccines and said many elementary school students later developed conditions, including type 2 diabetes, stroke, and myocarditis. Li Muyang said a friend in mainland China passed along an account from someone inside the system. The source alleged that the CCP was secretly pursuing a plan to eliminate certain groups, including older people, dissidents, religious believers, and people selected at random. The source also alleged that officials had collected genetic information from everyone in China through vaccinations and nucleic acid tests. They could remotely activate something in the vaccines to trigger cancers or other serious illnesses. Li speculated that pushing HPV vaccination in schools could be another attempt to harm students. He urged parents to think carefully and question the party's messaging. Some people online voiced distrust of Chinese-made vaccines and said they believed the HPV vaccine had already caused serious lasting health problems. Commentators said they could not verify Li Muyang's analysis or the account from his source. They pointed to remarks by the head of the Chinese Communist Party about living to 150. They interpreted those remarks as a reference to a plan to extend the lives of powerful people through full blood exchanges and transplants using healthy organs. They questioned whether enough donors would come from regular channels and said this fed their distrust of the authorities. At a high school in Shen Yun, more than 200 students were made to share needles during tuberculosis testing, violating the rule requiring a fresh needle for each student. Officials announced within a day that the test showed nothing abnormal. Parents still faced months of uncertainty, and the students needed repeat blood tests. In the Shen Yun case, the school organized the screening. Students had no choice, and parents found out afterward. In Guangdong, residents have described mandatory blood draws and nucleic acid tests, even as hospital tests were slow and diagnoses were missed. In Changyuan, Henan, officials said an HPV vaccination target of 80% ranked schools and said they would summon principals. In each case, authorities put targets first and disregard individual choice. While the purpose of the campaign remains unclear, a free service can become coercive when people have no choice. The concern is that when authorities in China make something both free and mandatory, it may end up harming the people it's supposed to serve.