Rising corona infection rates in Xinjiang

Alarmed by the high number of Covid-19 cases in the Xinjiang region, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) demands that the re-education camps must be better protected against the pandemic. The STP called on the World Health Organization (WHO) to demand China to work out a prevention concept to ensure that the approximately 1.8 million people in the camps are adequately protected. Since last week, 198 new infections were counted in Xinjiang – and the number of confirmed cases increased significantly over the past five days. On Tuesday morning, the authorities reported 57 new cases. "It is only a matter of time before the virus reaches the camps through the guards – and this would ruin all attempts to contain the pandemic. Thus, the WHO must now act as quickly as possible. It must stop covering the inacceptable policy of China's authorities," criticized Ulrich Delius, the STP's Director, in Göttingen on Tuesday.

For the members of the Uyghur and Kazakh population who are kept detained for re-education, a spread of the virus to the medically undersupplied camps would be a catastrophe. As the camps are overcrowded, the virus could spread there very quickly. "This must not happen under any circumstances! The members of the two Muslim nationalities are already suffering from the most serious human rights violations. A virus outbreak among them would endanger the survival of the entire population group," Delius warned.

Never before had the danger of a new outbreak in Xinjiang been as great as it is now. To date, China refuses to explain how it intends to protect the camp inmates from a spread of the epidemic. "The WHO cannot ignore this acute danger of a further spread of the pandemic. It must now finally act to save lives. If the WHO remains inactive, it will be partly responsible for the life-threatening consequences of an outbreak in the camps," Delius emphasized. From the very beginning of the epidemic, the WHO had been stalled and deceived by the Chinese authorities before issuing a warning regarding the virus. The WHO must not fail again if it wants to remain internationally credible.