Chinese villages not taking any chances

Tough measures: Residents guarding the entrance into their neighbourhood to prevent outsiders from entering the village in the outskirts of Beijing. — Reuters

JINAN: Village chiefs patrolling with loudspeakers, long alert banners hanging on walls, and cars blocking the roads, this is what many Chinese villages are doing in the battle against the new coronavirus.

As the epidemic that has infected thousands sweeps across the country, villages are one of the weakest links in the chain of prevention and control, but the measures there are often some of the toughest and smartest.