Why zero-Covid persists in China
As China welcomes athletes for the Winter Olympics this Friday, Beijing is “doubling down” on its zero-Covid approach, say Edward White and Eleanor Olcott in the Financial Times. This means tightly sealed borders, rapid citywide lockdowns, mass testing and “fastidious tech-based contact tracing”. It is claimed that this is necessary due to the “realities” of China’s healthcare system: “a patchy network of poorly resourced hospitals”, a huge elderly population and the comparatively low efficacy of its domestically produced vaccines. Although three billion doses have been administered to its 1.4 billion citizens, a study finds that three Sinovac vaccines produce a “poor antibody response to Omicron”.
The approach has been very effective so far in preventing cases, says Shin Watanabe on Nikkei Asia. According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 370 million people have been infected with Covid-19. China reports just 120,000 of those. Moreover, China’s GDP growth was an impressive 8.1% in 2021.
But is zero-Covid really there for epidemiological reasons, given that the now-prevalent Omicron variant appears both highly transmissible and mild? Some experts think some of the measures will persist rather because they “reinforce the power of the Communist party”, says the FT. Covid-19 has assisted Beijing’s “propaganda, surveillance and censorship machines”. Stability is critical, not just during the Olympics, but as Xi Jinping enacts “business and cultural reforms” as part of his “prosperity campaign” to restructure society ahead of his unprecedented bid for a third five-year term this autumn. It is likely that his job has been made easier by border closures. In any case, those who haven’t suffered during lockdowns are likely to favour a draconian approach simply because of the “ingrained belief “in China that “individual liberties must be sacrificed for the greater good”.