Grassroots focus for improving social governance

Although the epidemic situation in the country outside of Hubei province, which has been the area hardest hit by the outbreak, has markedly improved, some of the unusual measures the grassroots authorities have taken since the onset of the epidemic nearly one and a half months ago have not eased accordingly.

Some places have casually set up inspection and quarantine road blocks. And these have dramatically affected the operation of the whole logistics system.

Some county governments pretend to be blind to local villages 'arbitrary blocking of roads under the excuse of curbing the spread of the novel coronavirus, as a result of which it has not been possible to transport farm produce out of the villages.

Some chicken farms in central China have buried chickens alive because the trucks delivering chicken feed have been stopped out of the village, even if the truck drivers have legal and professional documents to prove they are healthy and the goods they carry are of good quality.

Although these measures helped to curb the spread of the virus in the very beginning of the epidemic, it is necessary for them to be adjusted according to the changing local situations. If these unusual tactics become conventional practices, they will unavoidably hurt the whole economy, particularly the country's smooth flow of goods and social stability.

Governments at the county level must put an end to these practices, many of which are suspected of violating the law. If the anti-epidemic measures lack any legal grounds and are devoid of flexibility, the price of the epidemic control they have helped to realize would be too high.

The rigidity of grassroots governance, which directly concerns the immediate interests of the people, has proved to be a practical hindrance to the modernization of the country's governance.