The Wuhan Lockdown: Sacrifice of a Province
On January 23, 2020, the first known instance in modern history of locking down a major city of 11 million people happened when the central government of the People's Republic of China imposed a lockdown in Hubei in an effort to prevent an epidemic. The World Health Organization (WHO), stating that it was beyond its own guidelines, commended China’s move, calling it “unprecedented in public health history”.
Wuhan is a “second-tier” Chinese city, which means it’s relatively developed but still a step below China’s major metropolises of Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. It has well-regarded hospitals, but resources lag behind those of more prominent cities. In the early days of the virus’ spread, prevarication and delay by local officials also allowed the pathogen to circulate more widely among an unsuspecting public.
While doctors first noticed the virus in early December and its transmission among people in the beginning of January, authorities still allowed large-scale public events to take place. The scale of the crisis only became fully apparent to the wider public in the days leading up to the start of China’s annual Lunar New Year, as cases emerged elsewhere.
However, the mass quarantine of Hubei province did not halt the spread of the virus, with several other Chinese cities and beyond confirming hundreds of cases – numbers that would rise in the time to come. Picture the film I Am Legend by day. Such is the sight in the cities that are going
under lockdown. Even in urban hotspots like Beijing, streets and transport hubs remained empty.
Following the lockdown of Wuhan, public transportation systems in Huanggang and Ezhou were also restricted. A total of 12 other cities in Hubei, including Huangshi, Jingzhou, Yichang, Xiaogan, Jingmen, Suizhou, Xianning, Qianjiang, Xiantao, Shiyan, Tianmen and Enshi, were placed on travelling restrictions by the end of January, bringing the number of people affected by the restrictions to more than 50 million.
The government policy appears to be to cluster those who have the virus in quarantine zones rather than let them be treated at home. Several buildings in Wuhan, including hotels, have been serving this purpose. Across China, people who have recently been to Hubei province are being tracked and quarantined. The number of deaths from the virus is almost certainly underreported.
As the virus has taken hold, stock markets around the world have fallen sharply, beginning with China’s CSI 300, which slumped almost three percent on January 23 – the biggest single-day loss in almost nine months. The unprecedented scale of the Chinese lockdown generated controversy, with some critics referring to the enforcement as “risky business” that “could very easily backfire” by forcing otherwise healthy people in Wuhan to stay in close conditions with infected people.
More than 8,000 medical workers from across the country have gone into Hubei, mostly to the 27 hospitals in Wuhan designated for treating coronavirus patients. Two new hospitals, with 2,600 beds in total, were completed in 10 days, built by more than 2,000 migrant workers.
Strict measures are being enforced at airports, seaports and border crossings to prevent the disease spreading into places that share a border with mainland China. Accordingly, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and some ASEAN countries (notably Myanmar, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam) are monitoring passengers arriving at their major international airports, while flights to and fro Wuhan have ceased operations. North Korea has banned international flights and foreign visitors, and Papua New Guinea has banned travellers from all Asian countries. As a result of the outbreak many countries including most of Europe, Armenia, Australia, Iraq, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Maldives, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and the United States have imposed temporary entry bans on Chinese citizens or recent visitors to China, or have ceased issuing visas and reimposed visa requirements on Chinese citizens. Moreover, several airlines have reduced or cancelled flights to and from China.