Netizens take to social media to slam officials
BEIJING/ ISLAMABAD: China’s microblogging site Weibo has literally exploded over the novel coronavirus outbreak. Hundreds of millions of posts have flooded the social media site. The number of discussion threads is almost impossible calculate. No other topic has sparked so much buzz among China’s netizens in recent years.
A lot of the discussion has been critical of the government, especially of the Wuhan authorities. China’s social media platforms are generally known to be behind a so-called “great firewall” of China’s multi-layered censorship policy.
But this time around, both Weibo and WeChat, China’s hugely popular apps, have become channels for criticism and questioning the authorities over the handling of the snowballing crisis.
Users have openly sought the resignation of the Wuhan mayor over what netizens believe has been a slow response to the epidemic.
FOUR PAK STUDENTS INFECTED IN WUHAN
Four Pakistani students in China tested positive for the coronavirus, said Zafar Mirza, the special assistant to prime minister on health.
A large number of Pakistanis living in China are students, of which over 500 are based in Wuhan.
Mirza assured the children’s families of the government’s support. He said that they will take on the responsibility of these children and all Pakistanis in China. “We will take care of them the same way we would care for our own children,” he said.
Mirza, however, said that no case of the virus was confirmed inside Pakistan yet.