China's Covid-19 rules led fugitive to surrender after three years

BEIJING (BLOOMBERG) - A Chinese man sought by the police for three years turned himself in after being unable to withstand the restrictions on life amid the government's Covid-19 curbs.

A 42-year-old man gave himself up to the local police in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou on Dec 24 after he suffered severe travel restrictions because he did not have a "health code", according to a report posted on Hangzhou police's WeChat account on Tuesday (Dec 28).

The man was involved in a racketeering case and escaped from the police in 2018, the report said, without giving his name.

Confined to a hiding place, the man experienced increased mental stress and deteriorating health, the report said. He is in criminal detention now.

China launched a Covid-19 contact-tracing mechanism across the country early in the pandemic, and continues to use stringent measures that include mass testing, traffic control and targeted lockdowns to contain the virus.

A data-based health code system installed on residents' mobile phones shows whether someone is at risk of being infected and thus cannot travel across regions or enter public areas.

Local authorities in eastern China's Zhejiang province, where Hangzhou is located, and neighbouring Shanghai tightened Covid-19 prevention rules after a resurgence of infections hit the area in November.

This is not the first time China's Covid-19-control measures brought in a fugitive.

A 48-year-old man from the western province of Gansu reported himself to Hangzhou police last year, citing restrictions on his activities without an identification card and health code, the China News Service reported on May 5, 2020.

The man had fled the police 24 years earlier for suspected homicide, according to the report.