Furore over ‘break-ins’

BEIJING: Authorities in southern China apologised for breaking into the homes of people quarantined for being suspected of contracting Covid-19, in the latest example of heavy-handed measures that have sparked a rare public backlash.

The Communist Party newspaper Global Times reported yesterday that 84 homes of people sent for isolation in Guangzhou city’s Liwan district were opened in an effort to find close contacts remaining inside and to disinfect the premises.