Beijing It was bizarre scenes that caused a sensation all over China. The gates of Disneyland in Shanghai have been closed, and last week more than 30,000 visitors had to wait in long lines for a Covid test to be allowed to leave the amusement park.
Many of them were still holding colorful balloons, others had hats of famous cartoon characters on their heads. They were only allowed to go home after hours with a negative test. The reason for the drastic measure: Allegedly, a Covid infected person is said to have previously visited the park.
In the fight against a new corona outbreak, the local governments in China are taking increasingly tougher measures. The cause of the latest outbreak, which has persisted since mid-October, is attributed to a couple from Shanghai. According to media reports, the two people had traveled to the north of the country, where they contracted the virus.
Since then, attempts have been made across the country to curb the spread of the virus. There are now cases in around half of China’s 31 provinces. On Monday, authorities reported 99 new locally infected people.
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What is not very effective in comparison to countries like Germany is extremely unusual in China. Because the Chinese government is pursuing a zero Covid strategy. At times not a single locally infected case had occurred in the People’s Republic for months.
New government action
In the past few days and weeks, more and more countries had partially relaxed their corona-related restrictions, including Japan, Australia and the United States. China, however, is going the opposite way.
More than 30,000 visitors had to queue in the amusement park in Shanghai to be tested for Covid.
(Photo: AP)
Because the current outbreak has been going on for around three weeks, local governments are constantly reacting with new measures to bring the virus under control. In addition to the nationwide health codes with which the movements of the residents of China can be traced, some cities are now using the radio cells of cell phone masts to monitor who has been in contact with possible Covid-infected people.
According to the South China Morning Post, some residents of the southwestern city of Chengdu recently received phone messages telling them that they were identified by the police as “in close proximity” to confirmed Covid-19 cases had been. They then had to report to the authorities and do several corona tests. In China, all SIM cards must be stored with ID data.
The foreign economy has also been affected by the severe restrictions in the People’s Republic for months. Since the outbreak of the corona crisis, foreigners have only been able to enter with a valid residence permit.
The health data of the population is saved on SIM cards and apps.
(Photo: dpa)
Foreign technicians, specialists or company bosses who only want to enter China for a short time need a special permit. Everyone who enters must undergo a closed quarantine for at least two to three weeks in a hotel room, which they are not allowed to leave for this time. You have to bear the costs yourself.
Quarantine: In the wrong place at the wrong time
In addition, everyone living in China threatens that they will be stranded somewhere and have to be quarantined because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Beijing health authority stopped two trains en route to China’s capital at the end of October.
The reason: Two train attendants are said to have been on board who had been on the same train a few days earlier as a passenger infected with Covid. All of the approximately 350 passengers had to undergo Covid tests and for seven days in a closed hotel quarantine with no exit.
The city of Ruili in the very south of China on the border with Myanmar has been particularly hard hit. For months, tough measures have been implemented there to combat new cases of infection that keep cropping up. In a high-profile essay, the city’s former vice mayor recently asked for more help in dealing with the recent outbreak.
The city of Ruili in the very south of China on the border with Myanmar has been particularly hard hit.
(Photo: imago images / Xinhua)
The coronavirus has “mercilessly robbed this city again and again and suppressed the city’s last sign of life,” he wrote. He said people in Ruili have lost hope and income after several closings, each time firing officials, and are now lacking finances and manpower.
With the way the Chinese government is dealing with the virus, it is increasingly isolating itself. Because state and party leader Xi Jinping has not left the People’s Republic since the beginning of the pandemic, he did not appear at the climate conference in Glasgow.
US President Joe Biden criticized this sharply. “I think it was a big mistake, quite frankly,” said Biden. The absence of President Xi Jinping does not fit in with the global leadership role China is striving for.
“Humanization” is becoming more and more important
The influential editor-in-chief of China’s nationalist state newspaper “Global Times”, Hu Xijin, contradicted critics of the Chinese government’s strategy at the end of last week, but admitted that it had to be more humane. “I have read in several Wechat groups that some are urging China to abandon the dynamic zero-covid policy and open up, as most countries in the world are doing or planning to do,” Hu wrote on the Twitter-like service Weibo about statements from citizens on the messenger service Wechat. “I do not agree with you.”
However, as China gradually becomes an “isolated island” in terms of the exercise of the zero-covid policy, its advantages over the open model may gradually diminish, he admitted. “We have to strengthen the rationality and accuracy of the dynamic zero-covid policy,” he demanded. “Humanization” is becoming more and more important, Hu said, and China should have “no obvious flaws” in this area.
Zhong Nanshan, a very well-known infectious disease expert in China, also recently endorsed the government’s approach in an interview. “China’s continued zero infection and zero transmission policy may seem like a large investment in the early stages, but it is actually less costly than some countries’ ‘infection first, treatment second’ policies,” said Zhong.
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