“Find, Test, Trace, Isolate and Support”– the slogan of the zero-covid policy implemented in China whose aim was to get the covid infections to zero turned into a disaster.
What was the policy?
The zero-covid policy implemented by the Communist Chinese government headed by their President Xi Jinping was seen as a success in the beginning when China saw very low covid-19 cases because of their stringent policy. The zero-covid policy included strict lockdowns of cities along with mass testing and quarantines. This was initially very effective but is now causing widespread problems and dissatisfaction among the common people who are being forced into sudden lockdowns, sometimes stranded alone away from their families and without sufficient food to sustain themselves.
The covid-19 pandemic started almost 3 years ago in China around December, 2019 and has caused distraught and havoc among the people of China and has destroyed their markets and their economy. Many businesses have not been able to function because of the sudden lockdowns all over the country and are financially not well to support themselves anymore.
Beijing summit
Due to the recent National holiday in China the number of covid cases have increased and this has caused the Chinese government to enforce more lockdowns throughout the country.
The 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party is to be held this month on 16th October in Beijing. The President Xi Jinping is expected to be re-elected for the 3rd time at this event and continue his 10 year ongoing term. This has put immense pressure over the local authorities to control the number of covid cases in the country.
Even though neighboring countries like Taiwan and South Korea relax their covid measures, China has resorted to keep on going with its zero covid policy.
Vaccination in China-
The Chinese population exceeding 1.4 billion people has very lax covid vaccination measures.
The government has not enforced vaccination and there is no public awareness campaign about it.
The two main vaccines in China are Sinovac and Sinopharm but they are shown to provide very little protection against infection.
Some research indicates that even with booster doses, the immune response from the Chinese vaccines may be less than other vaccines.
It is surprising that China which has enforced strict measures on everything else has no compulsion about its vaccinations.
Even the World Health Organization has expressed its concerns about the policy but the Chinese government has shown no signs of stepping back.
Is the policy effective?
Even though the Chinese Government has not backed off from its policy I believe it has not affected the country in a positive way but has instead reduced their trade and economies. The people of China are forced to be confined within their homes while people all over the world are roaming freely without such strict policies. Countries like USA have even declared the pandemic as finished and are going about their normal lives.
If China keeps on going about it’s zero covid policy it may drastically affect the peoples income and it would lead to the one thing it has tried to stop- deaths, due to poverty and depression.
In 2020, Australia had also adopted the zero covid policy but stuck to it only for a short period of time. It enforced high vaccinations and has since then began living with covid and not letting it affect their lives radically. The Australian economy has also bounced back to its pre-covid rate.
Chinese GDP
