China’s zero-Covid policy explained in 30 seconds

 

Explainer

China’s zero-Covid policy explained in 30 seconds

 

Rampant and sudden lockdowns have sparked anger as pressure piles on officials to curb outbreaks

 

Helen Davidson

@heldavidson

Tue 29 Nov 2022 10.32 GMT

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/29/china-zero-covid-policy-explained-30-seconds-lockdowns-outbreaks

 

Since the Covid pandemic began, China’s government has operated a zero-tolerance policy on outbreaks. The resource-intensive system of targeted lockdowns, mass testing and quarantine successfully kept the virus at bay and the death toll extraordinarily low compared with other countries. However, newer and more transmissible variants such as Omicron have challenged, and at times overwhelmed, that system.

 

This year there have been rampant and sudden lockdowns ranging from buildings to entire counties, prompting frustration, fear and anger. Some, such as those in Shanghai, Tibet and Xinjiang, have been enforced harshly, leading to food shortages and other deprivations.

 

Health experts agree that to open up now would lead to millions of deaths. China has no herd immunity, its local vaccines are not as effective as the foreign-made ones Beijing refuses to approve, and its health system would probably crumble.

 

Under this zero-Covid policy, local officials have been tasked with the near impossible: to resolutely control all outbreaks to maximum effect with minimal social and economic disruption. Throughout the pandemic, these officials have faced punishment if they are deemed to have failed in their response. It has led some to enact sledgehammer measures in an attempt to control outbreaks before superiors notice the social disruption.

 

Recent policy tweaks have focused on improving the low rates of vaccination among the elderly. Vaccines were encouraged but never mandatory, and fear, scepticism, or complacency is thought to have driven refusals among millions of older people.

 

Zero-Covid measures have been linked to multiple tragedies: deaths caused by delayed or denied healthcare, suicides, 27 killed after a bus overturned en route to an isolation facility, last week’s building fire in Urumqi. Analysts have noted that mass protests against Covid restrictions have spread so far because many people can see any of these tragedies happening to them or their loved ones.

 

But the government has remained committed to the policy, a point emphasised by China’s supreme leader, Xi Jinping, on his reappointment as Communist party chief last month.