![]() As of mid-October, 90% had received two shots, but only 57% had a booster shot.īeijing authorities have doubled down on the hardline coronavirus policies during the congress. China also has resisted vaccine mandates, keeping down vaccination rates. “All the conditions that have forced the government to put zero-COVID in place haven’t really changed,” he said, singling out the lack of an effective vaccine and the absence of sound home quarantine rules.Įven though vaccines are widely available, China’s homegrown versions don’t work as well as the Pfizer, Moderna and other shots developed elsewhere. The incident spilled over into at least one other city, where photos shared on Twitter showed similar statements posted on a bus stop in Xi’an.Īndy Chen, senior analyst at Trivium China, a Beijing-headquartered policy consultancy, said restrictions beyond the party congress should come as no surprise. Last week, three days before the congress opened, banners were flung over an elevated roadway calling for Xi’s overthrow and an end to the “zero-COVID” policy. While public protests are relatively rare in China, some people took to the streets in Shanghai and the northeastern city of Dandong to protest harsh and prolonged lockdowns. Instances of hospitals denying treatment because of pandemic rules sparked outrage, including a woman in labor who lost her baby after she wasn’t allowed into a hospital during a lockdown of the city of Xi’an because she couldn’t show a negative COVID-19 test result. Children were also separated from their parents, because one or the other was infected. The measures have bred simmering discontent, fed by instances of harsh enforcement that in some cases had tragic consequences.ĭuring a two-month lockdown of Shanghai last spring, videos widely shared on social media showed officials breaking down apartment doors to drag unwilling residents to quarantine facilities. China had to employ ever more widespread restrictions to control the faster-spreading variant, locking down entire cites and starting regular testing of practically the entire population of 1.4 billion people. He said it had prioritized and protected people’s health and safety and made a “tremendous achievement in striking the balance between epidemic response and economic and social development.”Īfter an initial outbreak in early 2020 that killed more than 4,000 people and overflowed hospitals and morgues, China was largely successful in taming the virus while other countries were overwhelmed with it - a contrast trumpeted in Communist Party propaganda. The Communist Party’s newspaper, the People’s Daily, published a series of opinion pieces on the effectiveness of China’s “zero-COVID” approach, and health officials said last week China must stick with it.Ĭhina’s leader, Xi Jinping, praised the policy at the opening ceremony of the congress. Secondly, authorities always tighten controls - COVID-19 and otherwise - before and during a major event to try to eliminate disruptions or distractions, so they could relax controls when the event ends.Īny hopes for an easing, though, appear to have been dashed before the congress. Fire kills 38 at industrial wholesaler in central China.Protesting workers beaten at Chinese iPhone factory.Zimbabwe's imposing new Chinese-funded parliament opens.World Insights: China-Africa cooperation sheds light on inclusive development.
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