Zhengzhou Photo:VCG

Police in Huozhou, North China's Shanxi Province, caught a man who escaped from a central quarantine area of COVID-19 in neighboring province two days earlier. The police soon found that he was an escaped convict who had recently returned to China from the Philippines.

The man surnamed Zhao slipped away from a quarantine site he previously stayed in Zhengzhou, capital city of Central China's Henan Province, on Saturday, according to a statement of Huozhou health authority. Zhao then went to Huozhou, and lived at a hotel with the help of a local resident surnamed Cheng, who used his own ID card to get a room for Zhao, said the statement.

As of Monday, Huozhou had closed all the venues Zhao had been to, including a hotel, an internet cafe and a noodle restaurant, and all his close contacts had been quarantined. 

Local police said they're investigating Cheng and will punish him according to law.

Their act has angered many Chinese netizens, who criticized the two for putting others at risk of the infection.

"No matter how many years he was previously sentenced to, I suggest he should stay in jail for longer time," wrote one Weibo user. "The quarantine site in Zhengzhou should also be blamed for negligence," wrote another.

Some users congratulated the police for unexpectedly seizing an escaping convict. "It must be a big surprise," one netizen joked on Weibo.

Global Times