Incorrect name or ID card number; that’s the message now troubling foreigners in Nanjing seeking access to their preferred shopping malls. The Lukou COVID outbreak inquiry is also complete, while truck drivers entering our city have another headache to contend with; “temporary toilets”.
First though, not the good news, the great news. Nanjing yesterday reported zero new positive COVID cases, the first such day of the present outbreak. Let’s hope it stays that way.
But that does not mean there can be any kind of let up. As part of the campaign, “Guard against External Import and Internal Backlash” (外防输入、内防反弹), an additional QR code has been introduced to our daily living vocabulary, PSA Jiangning (江宁发布) reported this morning. Say hello to the “Location Code” (场所码; Changsuoma). And get used to it.
It works by someone semi friendly commanding you to scan the code at the entrances of establishments with significant footfall, using either WeChat or the My Nanjing (我的南京) APP. Then enter your name and ID number, and comply with the request to take a photo of your face. The system then attempts to make a match with such information in a database.
And that’s where many foreigners are having difficulties, in much the same way as a foreign name on a Chinese bank account can confuse the heck out of any data cruncher.
But it’s not just the foreign population experiencing headaches. The system’s regular communication issues mean significant numbers of users cannot get past the registration page. Indeed, the process is sufficient a hassle, even for locals, that many shops in Jiangning District this afternoon were deserted. Not a soul was to be seen in a branch of KFC.
Children, the elderly and others without health code access are to be registered manually. To that list can presumably be added “foreigners whose names and passport numbers don’t match”.
Happily however, in place of the Location Code, The Nanjinger has found an acceptable alternative to be negative NAT results.
Elsewhere with the world’s most-hated virus, the final results of the inquiry into the large-scale outbreak originating at Nanjing Lukou International Airport last summer have been published.
Late last night, The Paper revealed little in report that tells us nothing we didn’t already know. The main takeaways, for the record, are:
- The third-party supplier entrusted to disinfect the aircraft which brought flight CA910 from Russia to Nanjing on 10 July was remiss in their duties.
- The reporting of said disinfection was a forgery
- In order to save costs and pursue profit, another third-party supplier permitted airport cleaners to mingle with passengers
- The arrest of six individuals was authorised, for the crime of failing to prevent infectious diseases
If anything, the publication of the report is significant for only one thing; its timing. As The Nanjinger reported on 22 March, actions that result in a spread of the epidemic can, if serious, be punished by up to 7 years jail time.
Finally for today, spare a thought for the truckers bringing into Nanjing the essentials to keep us fed and watered.
For them, it’s not enough to present a negative NAT result at the city border. They need a test and its accompanying result on the spot, before they can move on.
Hence trucks are shepherded into a large holding pen, where each driver must remain in their cab for the time it takes for their NAT to be processed.
To make sure they do, a sticker is also affixed across their cab’s door frame, one which if broken shall reveal the door has been opened. During this time, drivers are presented with a food parcel to keep them nourished, reported Nanjing PSA (南京发布) this morning.
They are also granted the use of that being called a “temporary toilet”. Given the truckers cannot leave their cabs, a more accurate term must surely be “commode”.
When all is said and “done”, they and their precious commodities may go on their merry way, delivering our food across Nanjing.
And with that image of commodes in the cabs of trucks, we bid our readers a pleasant weekend.
