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new infectionsPrefer your own vaccines instead of western ones – China reports record corona numbers
In China, the number of new corona infections has continued to rise – to the highest value in the country since the beginning of the pandemic.
A lockdown has been ordered for millions of people, which will apply from today, Friday.
REUTERS
The authorities registered another 32,700 confirmed cases within a day. This is the highest level in the country since the pandemic began.
REUTERS
That’s what it’s about
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China’s zero-Covid policy is not working.
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The number of daily new infections has more than tripled in two weeks.
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The impact on the second largest economy in the world is enormous.
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In megacities like Beijing there are strict exit restrictions again.
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The new omicron variants are held responsible for the increase in infections.
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“For nationalist reasons, the Communist Party refuses to accept Western vaccines that are more effective than Chinese shots,” writes the Wall Street Journal.
In the corona wave in China, the number of new infections reached the highest level since the outbreak of the pandemic almost three years ago. As the Health Commission announced in Beijing on Friday, around 32,700 new cases were reported. The number of daily new infections has more than tripled in two weeks.
In megacities such as Beijing, the severely affected southern Chinese city of Guangzhou or in Chongqing, extensive movement restrictions apply. In the capital, restaurants, shops and schools were closed – only supermarkets and markets were still open for grocery shopping. Employees have to work in the home office. The 21 million Beijingers were asked not to leave their homes if possible.
Huge economic impact
The impact on the world’s second largest economy is enormous: Experts from the Japanese financial group Nomura estimated that just over a fifth of the Chinese economic performance was affected by the lockdown – twice as much as in October, as the finance agency Bloomberg reported. The previous high level of new infections from April had already been exceeded the day before. At that time, the eastern Chinese port metropolis of Shanghai was put into a strict lockdown for two months.
While the rest of the world has long been living with the virus, China remains steadfast in its strict zero-Covid strategy. Residential areas are cordoned off in individual cases. Contact persons come to quarantine camps. Infected people are isolated in the hospital. The country has also sealed itself off for a long time. Visas are rarely issued. Those entering the country must be in quarantine in special hotel rooms for at least five days – but usually eight days.
New Omicron variants responsible
Every day there are mass tests that put an extremely heavy strain on local government finances. In order to get into supermarkets, for example in Beijing, a negative PCR test usually from the last 24 hours must be proven. Other places require tests from the past 48 hours. Long queues form at test stations every day.
The new omicron variants, which spread more easily and thus undermine the preventive measures in China, are blamed for the rapid increase in infections.
“The government continues to try to square the circle: it wants to reduce the number of new infections to a level close to zero while at the same time minimizing the consequences for the economy and affecting the everyday lives of citizens as little as possible,” comments the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”. on Friday China’s approach to combating the Covid pandemic.
“There is no good solution to China’s Covid problem”
In view of the easy transferability of the new virus variants, the venture was ultimately doomed to failure. Either the government will cover the country with nationwide lockdowns in the coming weeks.
“That could bring the economy to its knees and lead to major unrest. Or the authorities will loosen the restrictions noticeably. It would also be possible for the virus to spread unchecked. Both could push the underdeveloped healthcare system to its breaking point. There is no good solution to China’s Covid problem.”
«Authoritarian regimes are not models for public health»
And the American “Wall Street Journal” writes about the sharp increase in the number of corona cases in China: “Do you remember when China’s handling of Covid-19 was considered a global model? Western health experts looked at Beijing’s zero-Covid policy with transfigured eyes. Well, so much for that. As the third anniversary of the Covid outbreak approaches, China reports record infection numbers.”
China’s particular problem is that its draconian zero-Covid policy protects its people less, whether with vaccinations or with natural immunity. “For nationalist reasons, the Communist Party refuses to accept Western vaccines that are more effective than Chinese home-made shots.”
Long lockdowns have meant fewer people are exposed to the virus and have developed natural immunity than in the rest of the world. “Meanwhile, there are growing signs that the recent Covid outbreak and lockdowns are being met with more public frustration and resistance. The general lesson of China’s Covid bill is that lockdowns don’t work and that authoritarian regimes are not models for public health or anything else.”
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(AFP/DPA/gux)