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Military Enforcing Quarantine in H5N1 Pandemic in China?

Recombinomics Commentary
July 22, 2005

According to a news report by BBS (they call this a "location", that's a literal translation. i think it's actually a website.) on the morning of 22nd July, the bird flu is still spreading. This (the spread) has caused serious disturbances in a YuShu farm to the Northwest of Qinghai. Based on information from forums / message boards, it is understood that on the 12th July, this farm / farming area was discovered to have many people afflicted with acute pneumonia (i'm not sure if it's via identification of symptoms or was it actually lab confirmed). Following this, authorities entered the area and isolated the patients. Their whereabouts are unknown. They also forcibly inspected surrounding areas and isolated those with "abnormal respiratory problems". On 18th July, the decision was made to close / quarantine the area. This was aimed at preventing / restricting the movement of people in and out of the area. This led the residents to "lose control of themselves" and revolt against the authorities, leading to many casualties. To prevent a chain reaction linked to the Tibetan question (this is a guess, nomads / Tibetans are the words alluded here), on the 20th, the PLA sent in huge numbers of re-inforcements to quell the uprising. At the moment, the extent of the disturbances there is unclear as the area still remains under martial law.

The following is the extract of the forum / message board taken by Boxun.

Title: Something's Happening

[Description / Moderator's Comments, possibly] (i'm guessing what that was. but the text should go along the following lines)
I finally understand why. Over here in the farming area, there are people rioting and they've inflicted casualties on the troops. That farming area is the same one that has been quarantined. I hear the disturbances were huge, and that's why re-inforcements have been sent.

"Does anyone know what happened at that farm."

"Received / Affirmative" (Irrelevant / error i think)

"Fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting over a bunch of birds!"

"The farm - nothing was mentioned about it. Just closed for no good reason, ostensibly for 'lessons' ('lessons' is my take, google translates it as exams, if so, it might fit, but i believe that the literal meaning is that of lessons)"

"We'd better ignore it. There's nothing to see. The other forum has already said that it's because of the fighting between the Tibetans / nomads and the doctors. The troops have been sent to suppress the disturbances. The farming area (actually, i think farming community might be a better word) has not been quarantined because of lessons, but rather its been isolated because of the bird flu. The investigators there are in fact linked to the arrests that had been made previously."

The above human translation supports earlier messages indicating the military is enforcing a mandatory quarantine in Qinhai province related to the H5N1 bird flu outbreak described in Nature and Science two weeks ago. Additional information is being withheld by China.

Now, the quarantine enforcement is being met with resistance form the local population.