Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

AsiaWire

This is the moment Chinese disease-prevention officials charge into a village home and accost three family members gambling around a table in their pyjamas before smashing their equipment in front of them.

The heavy-handed law enforcement method comes as Chinese health officials order members of the public to remain indoors and refrain from gathering in large groups, including to gamble or attend weddings and banquets.

Video believed to have been taken by one of the Wuhan coronavirus inspectors in Xianning City, in Central China’s Hubei Province, shows the officers walking straight into the family home.

The three relatives, who are still wearing their pyjamas, can be seen sitting around a table playing mahjong – the Chinese tile-based game usually played by four.

They are said to have been reported to village officials by their neighbours.

Only one of the three appears to be wearing a surgical mask despite the outbreak of the deadly virus now officially named by the World Health Organization as COVID-19.

A uniformed official grabs a beer can and throws it on the floor before receiving a slap in the face by one of the family members, the video shows.

A large fracas ensues as the three relatives are forcefully ejected from their own home, and their mahjong table, which automatically shuffles and distributes tiles, is dragged outside and smashed.

During the scuffle, one of the family members is hit on the head, while an officer holding a loudhailer can be heard screaming: “Still gambling at a time like this!”

The COVID-19 – short for coronavirus disease 2019 – has claimed the lives of at least 1,381 people in mainland China and three others in Asia.

Nearly 64,500 people are confirmed to have been infected worldwide, with only 6,800 recovers reported thus far.

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