Even if there are thousands of threads from above, there is only one needle below to embroider them into a pattern.

Many grassroots civil servants, particularly those working at the village- and community-level, who have hundreds of residents living in their jurisdictions, often quote this saying to explain the difficulties they face in their daily work.

This is because no matter how many orders, policies and instructions they receive from above, they are the ones that have to translate these directives into meaningful actions.

Because of this, when it comes to some special tasks, such as tracking down and quarantining people who have come from Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the shortage of hands and the urgency of the mission, as well as the pressure from superior authorities, can lead to a lack of due procedural justice.

That's why there have been reports in Henan province of civil servants sealing the doors to the homes of those returning from Wuhan so as to force them to stay at home — the province is home to one-fifth of those who left the city before its lockdown.

But although it is necessary for those returnees to quarantine themselves for a certain period of time, forcibly restricting their freedom in this way violates their rights and interests.

Despite being an emergency situation, the Communist Party of China and government supervisory and disciplinary watchdogs should be attentive to the people's complaints about the overzealous use of power. That the pandemic is testing the country's governance capabilities, does not warrant power holders to cross the boundary the law has stipulated for the exercising of their power.

Even if some compulsory measures have proved effective in controlling the pandemic, their moral and legal costs cannot be ignored. They show that grassroots governments still have a long way to go to match their governing capacity with people's needs.

On the other hand, people need to shoulder their responsibilities too. There have been reports of some of those in Hubei who are infected with the virus having to be put under control by force for threatening the medical staff with intentional spitting and coughing, demanding that they should be treated first.

President Xi Jinping has urged the increased input of medical resources in the war against the virus and called on all members of the Party and civil servants to put themselves forward in the battle against the devil that has been released, so that grassroots governments can effectively increase their manpower on the front line.

Doing so will help ensure every infected citizen can be properly treated and more energy can be devoted to raising people's awareness of what they can do to protect themselves and others.

The residents of Wuhan and its surrounding towns are having to make huge sacrifices in the fight against the virus, and those from the city and its surrounding areas who left before the quarantine lockdowns were introduced should be cared for, not demonized.