BEIJING (Reuters) – Nearly three years after the pandemic, China is sticking to a strict COVID-19 containment policy that has caused increasing economic damage and widespread frustration, while keeping its borders closed for maximum foreign travel.
China has yet to outline when or how it will begin to move away from what it calls “dynamic zero. “
Here are the main facts about China’s 0 COVID policy.
WHAT IS ZERO-COVID?
China says it recognizes that domestic outbreaks are inevitable and that its policies do not aim to have 0 cases at any given time, but involve taking action “dynamically” when cases appear.
Dynamic-zero has two aspects: prevention and containment. This year has seen the intensification of both facets as has the highly transmissible variant of Omicron throughout China.
Prevention focuses on early detection through normal PCR tests, especially in cities, where a recent negative result is possibly a requirement to enter a company or public facility.
Suspected or suspected are isolated at home or quarantined in a government-supervised facility.
People considered to be close contacts of other inflamed people should be quarantined, and even remote or potential contact can result in a stay-at-home order.
Control tactics, aimed at temporarily cutting chains of transmission to prevent outbreaks, involve quarantining instances in government-supervised services and shutting down buildings, communities or even entire cities.
Since March 2020, China’s borders have remained closed to maximum visitors. Arrivals of all nationalities are subject to seven days of quarantine in status quo and three days of home isolation.
IMPACT ON DAILY LIFE?
Each person’s PCR test result is recorded electronically in government databases, along with their history, which is tracked through mobile phone signals.
People will have to maintain a “normal” COVID profile with continuous negative results, no contact with inflamed people, and no visits to places of risk. The profiles are maintained in cell phone “health kits. “
One profile prohibits access to public stalls and public transport, and could even require home quarantine for days with electronic seals attached to doors to impose isolation.
Profiles can be converted without caution, indicated through a color change or the dreaded appearance of a pop-up, if one was in a shopping mall visited by an irritated user or if one was in contact with a close contact. Sometimes, profiles become even if all situations are met.
Visits to other towns or provinces may require quarantine upon arrival.
WHAT IS A BLOCKAGE, WHAT CAUSES IT?
Locks, which can be at the point of construction or much wider, can be sudden.
A single case can result in the closure of a building or residential complex, which means that other people cannot leave. Some blockades lasted for months.
Entire cities can be blocked with just a few hours’ notice.
Major cities that have been closed, more than once, include Shanghai, Xian, Chengdu, Tianjin, Shenzhen, and even entire provinces and regions like Xinjiang, Tibet, and Jilin.
WHY NOT LIVE WITH COVID?
China maintains that it saves lives.
Officials acknowledge that Omicron is less likely to cause serious health problems, but say its high transmissibility means massive outbreaks would lead to a shortage of medical resources and spread vulnerable groups, adding millions of elderly people.
The official death toll in China remained close to 4600 from 2020 until more than 560 deaths hit Shanghai in April and May, prompting other cities to increase their defenses against COVID.
The Chinese health government predicted last month that for every hundred thousand infections, there would be at least a hundred deaths.
WHAT ABOUT VACCINES?
China has not yet approved foreign vaccines or locally manufactured vaccines with mRNA technology.
Authorities also failed to push a faster vaccination rate this year, to a primary vaccination crusade in 2021.
As of Tuesday, 3440 million doses had been administered, and more than 90% of China’s population was fully vaccinated. But only about 60 percent of the general population received reminders. About 80% of others over age 60 received more doses.
(Reporting via Beijing Newsroom; Editing by William Mallard)
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