Thread by @WilliamYang120

As many as a dozen people have died from starvation or lack of access to medicine in northwestern #China’s #Xinjiang region during a strict coronavirus lockdown imposed by Chinese authorities since early August, according to residents and local officials. rfa.org/english/news/u…

Starvation had left the members of 10 families in Gurkiratma village, in Ghulja’s (in Chinese, Yining) Araosteng township, in “dire health conditions” amid the lockdown, prompted by outbreaks of COVID-19 in the region, residents told RFA Uyghur.

An official said that as many as 12 people died in Ghulja county within 20 days after the zero-COVID lockdown was implemented, including one man he identified as Mewlan Sidiq, a 62-year-old farmer from Qarayaghach village.

"[Mewlan Sidiq] died 10 days after the implementation of the lockdown. Village and county officials were not aware of his situation on time and he didn’t have any relatives left around him,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Mewlan is among 12 people who died during [this lockdown]. They all died [from starvation or lack of medicine] in the first 20 days of the lockdown," he added, without providing additional details.

A second official told RFA that Sidiq likely died because his prescription medicine did not arrive in time amid the lockdown.

Sidiq had a pre-existing condition which deteriorated after the lockdown began, the official said. He was taken to the hospital but later died, he added.

A security officer in Gurkiratma village told RFA that two residents there recently died as the result of a food shortage, while three others were transporting malnourished villagers to a hospital

When asked about the identities of the two who died, the officer said he did not know them because there are 12 villages in the township.

“I’m just a safety guard working here in Gurkiratma, and I’m unfamiliar with all the villages,” he said.
He also said he could not provide information about the specific causes of death without information from relevant authorities.

An elderly Uyghur resident told RFA that his medicine was being delivered on time, but that he and his partner had been given only five loaves of bread to sustain them for three days.

“I underwent two surgeries due to my illnesses, and I have high blood pressure along with other ailments,” he said. “We have to pay government officials to bring us medicine and other food items. We have some bread to survive for some days.”

The current policies appear to indicate that Uyghur residents are under de facto house arrest with the government using the COVID-19 pandemic as justification, @UyghurCongress said in a statement issued Friday.