Trending in China: One City’s Punishments for Dodging Covid Tests Raises Internet’s Ire

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The northeastern city of Siping has stopped punishing people for missing more than two mandatory citywide nucleic acid tests after the penalties, which included a 500 yuan ($75) fine and 10 days of administrative detention, were criticized online for lacking any sort of legal basis.

As of Thursday afternoon, the hashtag #Siping in Jilin province deleted the notice that says people who fail to take the citywide nucleic acid test more than two times will be detained and fined #吉林四平删除两次以上未测核酸拘留罚款通报 has topped on the trending list on China’s microblogging platform Weibo, receiving over 4 million views and around 1,000 comments.