Test station in Beijing – the number of cases is increasing.
(Photo: Getty Images)
Around 3000 new Covid infections on Saturday, 2000 on Sunday – what would be cause for jubilation in other parts of the world is a cause for great concern in China. Because infection numbers in the four-digit range were last seen in the People’s Republic two years ago at the beginning of the pandemic. And the virus is spreading rapidly.
China is reacting rigorously as usual: the megacities of Changchun and Shenzhen are already subject to curfews, and other, smaller cities are also in lockdown.
Everyone in the country of 1.4 billion people is wondering: Will China get the outbreak under control this time, or does the state leadership have to admit that their zero-case strategy for the highly contagious omicron variant has failed?
For China, the outbreak now comes at the worst possible time. The People’s Republic is facing an already difficult year. Growth is weakening, the real estate industry, which is so important for China’s economy, is still in a deep crisis.
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Two years of recurring lockdowns have also led to uncertainty among the population, and consumption is weak. Added to this is the uncertainty caused by the war in Ukraine.
Additional lockdowns mean even more strain on the Chinese economy. China’s problem: The Chinese health system would not have been able to cope with a sudden rush to the hospitals. And how effective the Chinese vaccines really are against Corona is anything but clear.
>> Read also: Incubation period and symptoms of the corona variant omicron
Premier Li Keqiang recently announced that despite the zero-case strategy, daily life and supply chains should be maintained. So far, the state leadership has succeeded to some extent, at least with regard to the economy as a whole.
An outbreak had recently caused great nervousness. In January there were several local infections, including the omicron variant at that time. But the provincial governments reacted resolutely, and there was no major economic slump.
The example of Shanghai shows that China is once again making sure that companies in particular do not suffer too much. Although the important economic metropolis has been reporting high numbers of infections for days, there has not been a lockdown so far.
The coming days and weeks will show whether the zero-case strategy will continue to work. That is not guaranteed.
More: Follow the current developments in the corona pandemic in the live blog