China’s Surveillance State Pushed to the Limits in Virus Fight
Panic and paranoia set in as the government ramps up blanket tracking not designed for an outbreak.
A poster featuring people wearing protective masks is displayed near surveillance cameras in Shanghai.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
For decades, China has been building and refining the ability to track its citizens’ whereabouts and interactions to contain dissent and protest. The state’s effort to try to contain the rapid spread of the new coronavirus is now testing the limits of that surveillance system.
To slow down any virus, it’s important to interrupt person-to-person transmission. Officials in China have used a mix of high- and low-tech methods to find and monitor people who may have been exposed to the virus, which has infected more than 77,600 and killed upwards of 2,600 in the country as of Feb. 24. Authorities have sourced data from phone carriers and called on private tech companies to set up virtual health hotlines in order to trace everyone who’s been in or near Hubei province, home to Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. They’ve also activated an extensive network of Communist Party members and community groups, encouraging citizens to monitor neighbors’ vital signs and whereabouts.