In January 2020 anyone trading in stories of people being welded into their apartments, windows being forcibly boarded up and doors chained in China were called liars.

Then the deadly Urumqi Apartment Fire that sparked the ZERO Covid riots 3 weeks ago was so bad because….people where “forcibly quarantined” and unable to escape or be reached by emergency services (whatever does that turn of phrase mean?) Chinese media tried to downplay it internationally as Fire Trucks had a hard time getting access to good vantage points to combat the blaze because “cars with dead batteries blockaded the street”.

But yeah sure, another perfectly logical Chinese news piece to take exactly at face value.