Protests opposing China’s strict zero covid restrictions and severe lockdowns erupted in cities across the country this week as official infections reached record levels: the accuracy of government figures is questionable and instances are likely to be much higher, figures that would mark one of the United States. The most productive weeks of the pandemic still represent a major challenge for Beijing in its relentless pursuit of an unsustainable zero-covid policy.
China has reported 5,233 covid deaths and about 1. 6 million showed infections since the pandemic began, according to government data compiled by Our World In Data, recording more than 40,000 new cases in a single day for the first time, an underestimate likely based on all likelihood erroneous government reports.
If the U. S. If the U. S. Department of Agriculture were to report similar numbers every day for a week, it would be one of the most productive weeks in the country during the pandemic, with the country reporting more than 280,000 cases (an average of 40,000 per day) in 105 weeks out of 149. The CDC makes knowledge available.
For the world’s most populous country with more than 1. 4 billion people, or around 18% of the human population, China’s figures constitute a disproportionate fraction of global totals, accounting for less than 0. 1% of covid deaths and around 0. 25% of cases shown.
China, known for locking down entire cities after locating a handful of cases, has recorded fewer infections than many places a fraction of its size, adding New Zealand, Ireland, Georgia, Jordan, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong and at seven other events. The United States has reported more cases in China in the span of a week.
By contrast, nearly double that number died in November in the United States, which accounts for 4% of the world’s population but accounts for about 16% of global covid deaths, with most states reporting more covid deaths than China combined. .
Within weeks of the arrival of the virus, the U. S. The U. S. had already surpassed the existing death toll in China and in 79 events, the country reported more covid deaths in the one-week area than China has reported since the pandemic began, according to CDC data, surpassing through several times.
China’s reported constant capita death rate (3. 67 deaths compared to 1 million more people) is the lowest of any country in the world, with a few exceptions. which has limited testing capacity and a penchant for spreading erroneous data that cannot be independently verified, Burundi, which has a very limited testing capacity, and a handful of very small states such as the Vatican and Tuvalu.
Waves of protests swept across China this week as others took to the streets in opposition to Beijing’s strict restrictions against Covid-19. The protests mark one of the largest manifestations of civil unrest in mainland China in decades and, while not rare, it is exceptionally rare in China for the public to blatantly oppose the communist government and President Xi Jinping on this gender scale. The unrest comes amid a record number of covid cases in China, which have risen to around 40,000 per day despite strict restrictions that have controlled involving the virus for most of the pandemic. The death of another 10 people in the fireplace of an apartment in the western city of Urumqi last week, many say covid restrictions have prevented other people from escaping or helping to arrive on time, is one of the main triggers for the recent unrest. Authorities deny the restrictions had anything to do with the deaths.
The protests are targeting China’s 0 Covid policy, the beacon guiding Beijing’s reaction to the pandemic on which Xi has invested a significant amount of political capital. Zero-covid, more fully called “dynamic 0 Covid”, aims to absolutely eliminate the virus. China is the only major country that follows this approach. Unlike the policies pursued by the top of other countries, it does not lead to compromises or learning to manage and live with the virus. Authorities have relentlessly and adamantly searched for 0-Covid, locking down entire cities in a handful of cases and introducing widespread mandatory testing if any are found. Reports of other people not being able to leave apartments, even during earthquakes, monitored via guards and drones and accounts of food shortages and other people fleeing department stores and factories to avoid staying at home. inside. The accuracy and veracity of China’s covid statistics have been continuously questioned during the pandemic and are very likely to hide the true influence of covid. Beijing has gone months, if not a full year, without reporting a single death, for example, and the country has an incredibly low death toll considering the number of infections.
Officials have fiercely defended the zero covid strategy over the years and no matter how untenable the policy becomes, there is no transparent way out for China. Eradication is the only natural end point of zero-Covid, which top experts now see as an unlikely or very remote prospect. Lifting or easing restrictions and learning to live with the virus would inevitably lead to the spread of the virus, and high degrees of immunity among at-risk teams would be needed to save it from a large-scale death. Unfortunately, China has not made wise use of the time it has gained with strict lockdowns, which are designed as a transitional measure of public fitness to pause while more sustainable methods like vaccination are implemented, and large numbers of older people are not vaccinated. . . China’s vaccines are also of questionable quality, and its fitness formula would have a hard time dealing with giant outbreaks. However, in the wake of the protests, officials have begun to show signs that they may be rethinking their strategy, and the language of officials this week is noticeably softer than before.
Three years of zero-Covid has saved many lives, but with low vaccination rates, poor injections, weak herbal immunity to past waves of infection, and fast-spreading variants like omicron, abandoning zero-Covid now will likely cost China dearly. The virus spreading now, especially with reduced levels of immunity in at-risk teams such as the elderly, may create a “tsunami” of instances that can simply overwhelm hospitals and kill more than a million people, experts warn. Airfinity predicts that up to 2. 1 million people will die if the policy is lifted.
In China’s long-term zero-COVID fight (Reuters)
China’s Zero Covid Strategy: What It Is, Why People Protest, and What’s Next (Forbes)
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