New Lockdown in China: 1.7 Million Inhabitants in the East are Forced to Stay Indoors
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Lanzhou, a city of 4 million inhabitants in northwest China, has been declared a lockdown after 42 local corona infections were detected in more than a week, and six in one day. The residents of the capital of Gansu province are only allowed to leave their apartment buildings for necessary food, medical care or corona tests.

 

Large parts of China are under the spell of a new outbreak, with 214 cases spread across 12 provinces. Airline and train connections between Lanzhou and other cities had previously been suspended. The outbreak in China started 11 days ago when two Chinese participants on a group trip tested positive. The travellers were infected during their tour in several provinces, which allowed the outbreak to spread quickly. In 11 days, the number of local infections rose to 214 (excluding asymptomatic cases).

China has been pursuing a zero-covid strategy since the end of the outbreak in Wuhan, where any new outbreak is immediately nipped in the bud with tough measures, such as lockdowns and mass testing. The advantage of this strategy is that very few covid deaths occurred in China (4,636 in total, most in Wuhan and the surrounding area), and the economy recovered quickly.

Many Asian countries that initially adopted a zero-covid strategy are phasing out now that they have high vaccination coverage. For example, in China, 78 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated, but the government insists on strict containment. However, this requires increasingly strict measures since the delta variant of the virus is spreading faster.

Strict measures are now in place in all 12 affected provinces in China. Travelling from or to these provinces is discouraged and more difficult, tourist attractions are closed, and abolishing events. In addition, twenty neighbourhoods or apartment complexes where one or more infections have been found have been placed in a half or full lockdown.

Here and there, the Chinese population is beginning to sound dissatisfied with the strict measures. For example, residents of Ruili, a town on the border with Myanmar, recently posted complaints on Chinese social media. The city is prone to contamination from outside due to its location and was subject to Covid restrictions for seven months last year. Also, in Yili, in Xinjiang, residents complained on social media about “excessive” measures. The comments were immediately censored.

China watchers do not expect the zero-covid strategy in China to be abandoned any time soon. The Winter Games in Beijing (February 4-20, 2022) are just around the corner, and in the fall of 2022, the Communist Party of China will hold its five-year party congress, where party chairman Xi wants to run for a third term. It is important to Beijing that these events run smoothly. A politically difficult turn towards ‘learning to live with the virus’ is unlikely for the time being.

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