China: Lockdowns spread as Covid levels increase

Covid lockdowns and restrictions have spread to a number of cities in China as case numbers reached their highest level in six months amid reports that the strict zero-Covid policy could be eased. Tuesday’s 7,323 new infections, although very low by international standard, was the highest daily figure since April 30th, with the southern factory hub of Guangzhou accounting for almost a third of new cases.

Lockdowns have become more targeted, often limited to single districts or even individual housing compounds as opposed to city-wide measures such as that in Shanghai earlier this year. But the policy still requires the isolation of all close contacts of infected people, often in makeshift quarantine centres.

Police in Linyi, a city in the eastern province of Shandong, said they arrested seven people on Monday following a clash between local people and Covid protection staff clad in white, full-length PPE. The police said they would take strong measures against those who “illegally violated the legal rights of personal protection of citizens.”

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Chinese government officials are growing concerned about the cost of the zero-Covid policy, which involves mass PCR testing of the entire population every three days. Officials have told retailers that the frequency of testing could be reduced as early as this month and the number of testing stations is set to be cut.

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BioNTech, the German manufacturer of Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine, confirmed this week that it was in discussions with the Chinese regulatory authorities after Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the vaccine would be made available to expatriates living in China. Mr Scholz said during a visit to Beijing last week that this could be a first step towards broader distribution of the vaccine in China.

China’s own vaccines are effective in preventing illness and death but a large number of older people are not fully vaccinated and the authorities have not made vaccination mandatory. Covid has killed only a few thousand people in China, compared to more than a million each in the United States and the European Union.

Xu Xijin, a political commentator and former editor of the Communist Party-run Global Times, said this week that China’s “dynamic zero-Covid” policy was not about trying to reach zero infections but to maintain overall control of the epidemic.

“Complete zero infection should not be the goal of cities in this winter. By next summer, some cities may pursue zero infection again, but in this winter, it is unrealistic. To completely eliminate the overly active virus, this is beyond the actual grassroots management capacity of most cities,” he wrote on the social media site Weibo.

“It may not be possible to achieve zero this winter, and the economic and social cost of pursuing that goal is too high. The reality in various places is that people’s willingness to co-operate with lockdowns is getting lower and lower. Whether from the perspective of public support or the financial situation, this practice is difficult to continue.”