As of Tuesday, at least 28 of the country’s 31 provinces and regions have reported new cases of coronavirus, mostly the BA.2 version of the omicron variant. More than half of the new cases are in the northeastern province of Jilin, where officials said they only had enough medical supplies for two to three days.
China is particularly vulnerable to the rapidly expanding omicron variant. Although more than 85 percent of the population has been vaccinated, Chinese vaccines have not been shown to be as effective against this variant compared to mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna used in other countries, which are still in production and not yet available. in the country.
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China’s large elderly population is at particular risk. More than 50 million people over 60 in the country are not fully vaccinated, according to a National Health Commission briefing on Tuesday, raising fears that if the outbreak is not brought under control, China could suffer the same fate as neighboring Hong Kong, where more than 4,500 people have died – the vast majority of them are elderly people who have not been fully vaccinated.
Lockdown measures at major manufacturing hubs and ports such as Shanghai, Shenzhen and Dongguan also threaten to hurt global supply chains and China’s economic recovery after senior officials pledged to boost growth to around 5.5% this year.
On Tuesday, the country’s economic czar, Liu He, warned that in a “difficult situation,” measures to combat the pandemic must be balanced with economic and social development in order to “keep the economy within reasonable limits” and maintain stable capital markets – a possible reference to how draconian lockdown measures that have been in place in the past could affect the economy.
According to CNBC, a Bank of America Securities report says the outbreak could affect global Android smartphone supply chains and affect chip, clothing and car manufacturing in the near future. While most Chinese ports remain open, shipping analysts have seen dozens of containers waiting outside ports in Qingdao and Shenzhen, according to Reuters.
The outbreak coincided with a sell-off in Chinese stocks this week, followed by a rebound on Wednesday after Liu pledged to support industries under pressure.
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Complaints from ordinary citizens began to appear with greater regularity on the country’s heavily guarded social media. On Monday, one user wrote on the Weibo microblog that due to the sudden new lockdown measures, their family was stuck on a highway for 14 hours trying to reach the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi.
The news that a 4-year-old girl in Changchun, one of the cities under strict quarantine, died of acute laryngitis while waiting for a negative coronavirus test to be admitted to hospital sparked further anger online.
“Three years. I don’t dare to get sick and don’t even talk about children. You don’t know what they might face,” wrote one Internet user under the hashtag of the number, which was viewed more than 40 million times in two hours.
Others have complained about losses to their businesses. “I really broke down tonight and never wanted to leave Shenzhen as much as I did tonight. Since I opened my shop on March 1, I have not earned a penny,” the breakfast shop owner wrote in response to a report from the Shenzhen Health Commission.
As the lockdowns weigh on the economy and test the patience of residents, there are signs that officials may be gradually moving away from the “dynamic covid zero” policy in an attempt to wipe out the virus through tight lockdowns, aggressive contact tracing and maintaining tight border controls.
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On Tuesday, officials said patients with mild symptoms no longer need to be hospitalized, but are instead sent to centralized quarantine centers. Officials in Shanghai, where schools have been closed, have said they have no plans to impose a citywide quarantine.
Apple supplier Foxconn, which suspended operations in Shenzhen on Monday, said on Wednesday it had implemented a “closed-loop” system and resumed production. Yantian Port in Shenzhen said on Monday it was still operating as normal.
But many provinces and cities still exercise control as strictly as before. Nearly 36 million people in cities from Hebei Province to Shenzhen have been confined to their homes or apartment complexes. Key industrial centers such as Dongguan, Changchun, Jilin City and Shenzhen have put their residents under “closed management”, forcing businesses and factories to shut down.
Many other areas have less stringent restrictions on movement between provinces. Flights bound for Shanghai will be diverted to other cities from March 21 to May 1. Everyone arriving in Beijing must undergo a nucleic acid test (PCR) 72 hours after arrival, in addition to testing negative for coronavirus within the last 48 hours.
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In Tianjin, as in many other cities, residents have been ordered not to leave for non-essential travel. In Shanghai, those who must leave the city, as well as those entering the city, must present a negative nucleic acid test taken within the last 48 hours.
Despite signs of hesitation, China has officially pledged to continue its zero covid policy. Wu Zunyu, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview with the Xinhua news agency published on Wednesday that experts have assessed the current zero covid policy as effective against the omicron variant, although the BA.2 version has been spreading faster and more quietly.
If anything, officials seemed ready to redouble the crackdown. Lei Zhenglong, deputy director of the center, said the nature of the current outbreak requires “our prevention and control measures to be earlier, faster, stricter and more effective.”
Pei-Ling Wu from Taipei and Lyric Lee from Seoul contributed to this report.