Hi,
It’s Hot Mike and I’m Nidhi Razdan.
China’s zero-covid strategy has reached breaking point. The country is so obsessed with keeping matters literally to zero that its latest drastic measures in its financial capital Shanghai are backfire big time. Until now, Shanghai, China’s largest city, had largely kept COVID cases under control through local lockdowns. But since April 5, the entire city of 26 million people has been grounded by the government, everyone ordered to stay at home as Covid cases rise. Heartbreaking pictures and videos have emerged over the past week, showing residents of the city’s stately homes shouting for help from their windows and balconies. They are not only stuck in their homes with very strict rules that don’t allow them to go, but have also run out of food in many areas. These videos have gone viral on social media, and you can see and hear frustrated residents and even officers who are warning them of the consequences of speaking out.
There is also outrage over the policy of separating children from their parents. The rules say people who test positive, which includes infants and young children, must isolate in quarantine facilities or hospitals, with no family contact allowed at all. It has now become a source of widespread anger after videos of unaccompanied babies crying at a Shanghai COVID-19 hospital went viral online. Foreign diplomats from more than 30 countries have written letters of protest. While many lawyers and doctors wrote articles arguing against the harsh policy. There was also an online petition that was started which was immediately censored by the authorities, as were several social media posts. On Tuesday, the United States ordered all non-essential government employees to leave Shanghai, citing the COVID-19 outbreak and restrictions. city.
Well-known public health scientist, Dr. Eric Feigl-ding, who lives in the US, posted some videos of citizens from Shanghai shouting for help. He tweeted that people will not be able to last long and this can lead to tragedy. Health experts said China may hit a breaking point with the BA.2 version of Omicron, which is leading the rise in cases there. The lockdown was a last-minute announcement, giving most residents of Shanghai no time to stock up on food and essentials. Local food delivery by government officials has been sporadic and uneven. Some neighborhoods are fine, while others have seen significant reductions.
For a country that does not allow any dissent, it is remarkable to see angry citizens raising their voices on social media. As the response escalated, Chinese officials announced on Monday they would be easing restrictions in some neighborhoods, at least in areas with fewer Covid cases. But it is still not clear how many people are actually being allowed out of their homes and when. According to a Bloomberg report, people living in places where lockdowns were technically relaxed said they were still barred or discouraged from leaving their premises by neighborhood committee personnel and who Taking it to the streets, he said that all the shops were closed and those that were open, whatever they were, they were asked by the staff to leave very early.
At this time, the rules are so strict that people cannot even step out of their homes to buy food, so it is the government, as we said earlier, it is supplying to everyone, but this is not happening everywhere. , due to which there are riots around the food. , A southern district, which ranks among the lowest number of cases, said it would now allow residents to go out once a day and buy supplies. Shanghai has been placed under some of the most severe measures since the virus emerged in Wuhan in 2019. Apart from mass testing, thousands have been sent to centralized quarantine centres. Even when the number of cases rose to nearly 1800 in March of 2021, Shanghai did not impose a complete lockdown. Xi’an city, with a population of 13 million, sealed off the entire city in December last year after fewer than 100 cases. Yuzhou city with more than 1.1 million people due to just three COVID cases went under complete lockdown. But an important reason is that Shanghai did not face the kind of sanctions that other cities did during the crisis.
This is because it is so important to the Chinese economy. According to the BBC, the city contributes more than 3% to China’s GDP and 10% of its total trade since 2018. A study by the Chinese University of Hong Kong suggests that a two-week lockdown on megacities such as Beijing or Shanghai could cost China 2%. of its monthly GDP. Vaccination is another issue. China says it has vaccinated more than 86% of its entire population. But vaccine rates in people over the age of 80 are much lower than in other age groups. So far, China has relied on its own vaccines, which have been found to be inadequate in studies against Omicron. Now officials have approved clinical trials of two COVID vaccines that use mRNA technology like Pfizer and Moderna.