China’s response to coronavirus shows a one-party state in action

My hometown of Nanjing is more than 300 miles away from Wuhan but my family there, like Chinese families everywhere, have been gripped by the coronavirus story. We use WeChat (a Chinese version of WhatsApp) to share medical tips, the latest intel and even a spattering of dry jokes.

A snippet of information from an official bulletin — passed on by my aunt — jumped out at me. The disease had made its way to Nanjing, with three patients reported. And the authorities knew rather a lot about their location. The government message read: ‘Patient Two: January 18th at 16:15 to 17:54 shopped at Hanzhongmen Avenue Oushang Supermarket (Hanzhongmen Avenue No 151); January 20th at 10:00 took the Number 48 bus at Chating East Street Bus Stop, and disembarked at the terminal station.’ The warning to citizens of the city is that all three patients are infectious. If you were at these places at these times, it would be best to get yourself checked out. If in doubt, quarantine yourself.

In China’s digitally-connected society, there is public wifi everywhere, from supermarkets to buses. The Nanjing government most likely used this system to track the patients in question and any gaps in the itinerary suggest wifi blackout zones.

TfL also tracks its passengers on the Underground, but it’s hard to imagine Sadiq Khan releasing data on individual passengers, even in the face of a killer virus. At least, not without a fight on his hands from privacy–conscious Londoners. My aunt had no such concerns. ‘Have you been to these places?’ she urgently asked the family group.

The past week has given us insight into how modern authoritarian China works. First, it was announced that a specialist hospital would be built in Wuhan within six days and videos show that construction has begun.