Public outraged after workers dropped off without notice

Many Chinese netizens were shocked on Saturday after hearing Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, had accused Zhengzhou, Henan province, of dropping more than 800 workers in the city by bus without communication in advance, an act rarely seen in the country.

According to the official Wechat account of Xuzhou, Zhengzhou sent 26 buses to transport 870 resigned factory workers early Friday morning. The workers then scattered into the city without following its COVID-19 prevention protocols.

Most of the workers have since been traced and left Xuzhou under closed-loop management as of Saturday morning. Others who chose to stay in the city have been put under the city's COVID-19 prevention management.

The risk of spreading the virus was under control, it said.

On Friday, Xuzhou, a city with a population of more than 9 million, reported two new locally transmitted confirmed cases and 17 asymptomatic cases, according to the data from city's health commission on Saturday.

It announced all people should present a negative PCR test result from the past 48 hours to take public transportation since Sunday.