China's 'zero-Covid' strategy falling apart as cases mount

Beijing [China], March 29 : China's much-publicised 'zero-covid' strategy that the government credited for bringing the country out of the pandemic till recently is falling apart as the rapidly mounting cases are again forcing mass lockdowns like those seen in 2020.
This month, China has faced its worst outbreak since the coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan. From March 1 to 24, the country had reported 56,000 infections -- more than the total cases in Wuhan two years ago. On Sunday, 6,215 positive tests were recorded, with 3,500 of those in Shanghai, the Washington Post reported.
The resurgence has created a dilemma for Chinese policymakers, the report said, adding that, local officials are being told to maintain zero-covid and simultaneously limit economic disruption, the report said citing analysts at the research firm Trivium China.
Late on Sunday evening, the Chinese financial hub of Shanghai announced it was going into lockdown, one half at a time, reversing weeks of denying it would impose blanket restrictions on the city's 25 million residents.
The Chinese officials recently announced that a road map was being created to ease the "zero covid" approach and that cities were experimenting with more targeted and short-lived containment protocols, the report said, adding that treatment guidelines have been updated to allow asymptomatic patients to be isolated in centralized facilities, instead of at hospitals. Antigen test kits were also approved.
"Given the paramount importance of maintaining social stability and preserving China's sterling record on the coronavirus," the Trivium China report said, there are unlikely to be major changes in the country's "dynamic clearing" strategy to totally eliminate the virus before the 20th Party Congress in October. In that key meeting, President Xi Jinping is widely expected to take on a precedent-breaking third term as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.
Beijing's staunch adherence to zero covid often appears puzzling to other countries with high vaccination rates where despite much higher case numbers than China's, blanket lockdowns are no longer considered necessary.
Many in China, too, find it difficult to understand the strategy.
In a sign of mounting impatience, a senior epidemiologist's response to the question "Why can't China end epidemic control measures like other countries?" drew nearly 500 million views on the microblog Weibo on Wednesday.
In Shanghai, rapid shifts in policy are wearing out locals like Zoey Yang, a 30-year-old consultant who lives to the west of the Huangpu River. She has gone through one 48-hour isolation period and is preparing for four more days at home, the Washington Post report further said.
"There was one day I heard the community broadcast saying that my neighbourhood would be put into another lockdown starting at midnight, but the next day, that lockdown was suddenly cancelled without explanation," Yang said. "You can get really confused sometimes."
"It's just too difficult," she added, "We are one of the last countries in the world to still implement a zero-covid policy. How are we going to continue doing this if we want to engage with other countries?"
Public anger continues to be sparked by incidents of unnecessary harm as a side effect of poorly managed lockdowns. Last week, when a nurse in Shanghai died of an asthma attack after being refused admittance to her own hospital, commentators drew comparisons to a pregnant woman who lost her baby after being refused treatment in Xian, the report said.
Another sign that people are losing patience is the emergence of a genre of online comedy, loosely modelled on the Soviet Union jokes about the secret police, taking aim at overly zealous enforcers of covid policy dubbed "epidemic prevention hobbyists," the report further said.