Covid in Shanghai, closes everything for 3 new infections
Four new cases. Many, or rather few, very few, are the new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours in China (plus another nine from outside or “imported”). Yet, that’s enough to block a metropolis like Shanghai. Yes, because three of the four Covid-19 infections recorded locally come from Shanghai, over 23 million inhabitants. These are three friends who had traveled to Suzhou in recent days. Plus two more suspicious cases from outside. As we have been used to seeing, the reaction from local and central governments has been more vigorous than ever: all closed.
The authorities have indeed decided to cancel hundreds of flights, close schools and cancel dozens of public events scheduled these days, blocking all tourist activities. To be exact, they have been deleted over 500 flights from the two Shanghai airports, all travel by tourist groups to the nearby city of Suzhou, where the three infected had gone, had been suspended, tourist sites closed, a university campus quarantined in Hangzhou after a case of contact. The three infected were all vaccinated, but recently there have been various controversies about the effectiveness of Chinese vaccines. Six hospitals in Shanghai have suspended outpatient services. Suzhou, which has a population of around 13 million, has itself closed tourist attractions and required residents to provide negative test results to leave the city. All schools were also closed in the small satellite town of Xuzhou, which also prevented its two million residents from exiting the city by bus services after close contact with a Shanghai patient was detected.
Covid, China live for the Olympic Winter Games
The signal is unmistakable. A few weeks after the opening of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, China has no intention of moving away from the zero contagion policy. After the first, overwhelming, wave, China has managed to control the spread of the coronavirus within its borders through travel restrictions and sudden blockades, but in recent months frequent internal outbreaks have put its zero tolerance strategy to the test.
In recent weeks, the first discontent for one have emerged strategy, that of zero infections, which allowed China to block the widespread spread of the virus already after the first weeks of the pandemic. Not only. China was the only one major world economy to grow in 2020 (+ 2.3%) despite Covid-19. A sign that Beijing has managed to restart first compared to the others. Now, however, there is starting to be someone who questions the effectiveness and above all the medium-long term consequences of the zero Covid strategy.
Covid, the Chinese virologist: “Zero infection strategy can bring more harm than good”
First an editorial appeared on Caixin, Beijing’s economic-financial media, questioned the benefits of the strategy, pointing out that in the long run, the damage could be greater. Then it was the turn of Guan Yi, an influential Chinese virologist who works at the University of Hong Kong. During an interview with Phoenix TV, he warned that the country risks economic collapse if local officials continue to try to eliminate all traces of Covid-19, scoring the most vocal criticism of China’s so-called Covid zero approach. by one of his own experts. “We have no chance if we pursue a zero Covid goal,” said Guan, who has been dubbed “the virus hunter” by the Chinese media for his work on identifying the animal origins of the coronaviruses that caused SARS and the MERS. “The virus is here today, just like the flu. That’s a fact, whether people like it or not.”
But Beijing does not seem to have any intention of following the virologist’s advice, nor of listening to the groans of several entrepreneurs local or international who complain about the sudden cancellation of events, especially in Shanghai, a city that thrives on exchanges with the outside world. The government is on high alert for potential outbreaks ahead of the Olympic Games, when thousands of athletes, technical managers, officials and media from abroad will arrive. The Beijing Olympic Park has already been sealed off as part of the “closed-loop” bubble of the event, state media reported. On the other hand, China is heavily basing its own rhetoric towards the West on the management of Covid-19 with the ability to keep infections always close to zero. Departing from this strategy would do away with a fundamental rhetorical lever for the Party. And there are also those who believe that before congress in the second half of 2022 no changes to the current restrictions are foreseen.
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