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World’s Harshest Lockdown in China
Zero COVID Policy is a public health policy that stresses the use of contact monitoring, border restrictions, mass screening, and periodic lockdowns to effectively shut down all avenues for a virus like COVID to propagate.
Whether in India, America, Europe, or Africa, most governments have either repealed or are gradually removing covid prohibitions. However, there is one country where the narrative is quite different. China was the source of Covid-19. Lockdowns, arguably the most suffocating in Chinese history, are currently being implemented in several Chinese cities.
I believe this is the worst coronavirus outbreak in two years. A huge number of Omicron cases have been reported in China, and the situation is deteriorating. People in white PPE outfits may be seen. The majority of Covid prohibitions have been lifted in many areas of the world, but this is still the case in China.
Lockdowns, such as this one in Shanghai, will only alter if they are defied. China’s story is distinct from that of other nations. When compared to India, we had to go through three waves there.
The initial Covid-19 strain was released in 2020, followed by the Delta variation wave in May 2021, which was by far the deadliest, and the Omicron variant wave in January 2022.
It was mostly a non-lethal wave with a low fatality rate. In most nations, there were three to four waves, each of which was caused by a different variety, and the most recent wave in most countries was the Omicron wave. However, when the first original strain of Covid-19 emerged, China maintained a strict lockdown on the nation, and there have been no subsequent waves in the following two years. We observed similar tales in nations like Australia and New Zealand, which were immediately shut off from the rest of the globe, as a result of which there were no Covid cases for a long time after the first wave passed.
The major difficulty with this plan is that countries would have to open up sometimes since they can’t be sealed off from the rest of the world forever, and the second issue is that the Omicron variety spreads so quickly that it’s nearly hard to stop it.
As a result, as soon as nations like Australia and New Zealand began to open up a little, the number of cases surged tremendously. The Omicron model sparked a trend in other nations as well, as it did in China.
On December 9, 2021, the first Omicron case was discovered in mainland China. He was asymptomatic in a man who had recently returned from a distant place. It’s very common for the Omicron type, and most people who acquired it had no idea.
In China, however, there were roughly 25,000 confirmed cases by March-April, a new high since the epidemic began. According to accounts, this is China’s second wave, and it is caused by a sub-variant of Omicron called BA.2. Because it is difficult to detect, this variety is also known as the Stealth Omicron. It is 1.5 times more transmissible than Omicron.
The country of origin for this subvariant is unclear at this time, however, it was initially discovered in the Philippines. According to the World Health Organization, BA.2 has now been designated as a Variant of Concern. The good news is that based on what we know so far, this variety isn’t any deadlier than Omicron. The risk of hospitalization in BA.2 is not higher than in Omicron, according to Denmark’s Staten’s Serum Institute. It’s simply easier to transmit. This is why this subvariant is responsible for 86 percent of all sequenced instances found worldwide.
As a result, there’s no need to be concerned about this variety. That is why, despite the growing number of Covid cases, governments in Australia and New Zealand have recognized that we will have to cohabit with Covid.
As a result, the Covid limitations are gradually being lifted in that area. China, on the other hand, has a different approach. China has consistently adhered to a policy of Zero Covid, according to the Chinese government, is a public health threat that must be eradicated in any manner possible. It can be transferred via people, animals, food, or even mail. This is why the Chinese government has taken extremely drastic steps to keep the number of Covid cases to a bare minimum.
The Chinese government, for example, established a “geese army” on the China-Vietnam border in October 2021. China responded by deploying 500 geese at the China-Vietnam border. These birds were meant to bite anyone attempting to illegally cross the border from Vietnam to China.
At the border, 400 mixed-breed dogs were deployed as well. All of this was done to ensure that no Covid cases made it into China. But today, as Covid instances in cities like Shanghai are on the rise, China decided to enforce a city-wide lockdown in Shanghai on March 31st.
Lockdown has been imposed on 25 million people. It was forbidden for people to leave their neighborhoods. Everyone was required to test, and those who tested positive for Covid had electrical alarms installed outside their homes, according to reports.
For the government to be notified if they leave their residences. People were enraged as a result of a slew of viral videos. People are no longer willing to put up with it. They are confined to their houses people who test positive for Covid who are asymptomatic or have minimal symptoms are removed away from their homes and placed in temporary detention centers under China’s Zero Covid Policy.
People have expressed their dissatisfaction with the state of the accommodation centers. Roofs that leak, overpopulation, no heating, no air conditioning, and no access to medications The windows of these lodging establishments have been sealed to prevent unfiltered air from entering. Fearful of the virus spreading through the windows. There have been cases of Covid-positive people’s pets, such as dogs and cats, being murdered. As a result, Covid is unable to propagate through them.
As a result of these severe actions, hundreds of recordings of individuals yelling from their balconies have been uploaded. They are motivated by their dissatisfaction. The distribution of food was interrupted. People are confronting food shortages as a result of insufficient food supplies. As a result, riots broke out in several locations. Some of the footage made it look like something out of a science fiction dystopian thriller, with robot dogs being charged with keeping an eye on humans.
Drones from the government fly up to people’s balconies, warning them not to leave their houses. People were singing on their balconies, prompting the deployment of these drones. They’re being starved to death by the government.
The most important question is why is the Chinese government doing this, It has an impact not just on people’s lives, but also on the Chinese economy as a whole. The Chinese stock market has been steadily declining since these restrictions were imposed. The Unnecessary Covid Lockdown is the name given to it. In March, the jobless rate in 31 major Chinese cities reached 6%.
For the last four years, it has been the highest on record. Inflation is increasing. China’s GDP growth rate is expected to reach 5.5 percent in 2022, according to the government. However, China’s growth prediction has been cut by several institutions.
According to some estimates, China’s GDP growth rate will be about 4.5 % others anticipate it will decrease to 3.9 % as well. It’s particularly noteworthy to note that China’s neighbor, South Korea, had a similar experience.
However, this time I’m taking a new approach. For nearly two years, South Korea has been cut off from the rest of the world and when they attempted to open up the country a little, the number of instances skyrocketed.
However, the immunization rate in South Korea was relatively high, and the South Korean government’s attitude was similar to that of Australia and New Zealand, in that they recognized that they would have to learn to live with Covid.
They gave up attempting to keep the number of Covid cases to zero, thus there were no lockdowns in South Korea and the outcome remained advantageous to both the people and the economy, therefore I return to my original question.
Why is China’s government so hell-bent on annihilation? What is the explanation behind this?
Experts think there are two major causes behind this. First and foremost, the Chinese immunizations aren’t as successful as the Chinese authorities had hoped. They employed five primary vaccinations, the most well-known of which were Sinovac, Sinopharm, and CanSino.
Their effectiveness, according to the producers, ranges from 50% to 79 %. When compared to other vaccinations, such as Moderna and Pfizer, it had an effectiveness of roughly 95%. When it came to the older strains, that is, before the newer strains, the efficiency of every vaccination continued to dwindle. Pfizer and Moderna are among them. But picture what would happen if the effectiveness of these Chinese vaccinations dropped any lower. However, Xi Jinping’s politics are thought to be the second, and more importantly, cause.
Zero Covid Policy
Internal Chinese Communist Party elections are set to take place in a few months. Every five years, their National Congress convenes, and Xi Jinping will seek re-election to a third term. According to reports, he would attempt to use his Zero Covid Policy as an example to demonstrate that China has become a prosperous country. In comparison to Western countries, where there have been many fatalities and even more instances, he has stated that he wants China to have zero deaths and cases. Xi Jinping personally advocated this approach as a remedy to Covid. And now, if he backs down, his image and ego could suffer as a result.
China Covid caseload reports 20,000 every day instances
China Zero-COVID policy to have prolonged impact on global supply chain: GlobalData
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