“He talks as little as a wooden mannequin,” said the woman named Wang of her blind date. She reported on the quarantine in a series of online videos, which were viewed by millions of Chinese last week. “But he does cook, and I think that’s great, even if the food is mediocre.”
Wang was out dinner date at the man’s home in the city of Zhengzhou, when the local authorities suddenly announced a strict lockdown. Some infections had been detected in the area, so no one was allowed to leave the house. Wang was locked up with her date for days, sharing her experiences on social media.
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China has set itself the goal of completely crushing corona. With every infection, entire neighborhoods or even cities go into lockdown. This already happened recently in tourist attraction Xi’an and in the port cities of Tianjin and Dalian. Beijing is afraid that the omikron variant will disrupt the country.
Because infections were also found in the metropolis of Shanghai on Thursday. Nearby stores were promptly locked, with customers and staff still inside. A branch of clothing store Uniqlo went viral on the internet after videos were shared of customers and employees who were bored inside.
A visitor later reported that after a negative PCR test, everyone was allowed to leave after spending an entire night in the store.
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The draconian policy sometimes leads to more than just discomfort. Last week, a woman in Xi’an city suffered a miscarriage after being refused entry by the local hospital. The reason: it was late in the evening and therefore she had nowhere to go for a corona test. She didn’t get into the hospital, and her baby died.
Hospital closed for three months
After public outrage over the incident, the hospital director openly apologized. It wasn’t enough: local authorities closed the entire hospital for no less than three months: As punishment for the fatal error of judgment.
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However, these kinds of ‘zero-covid’ incidents will not prompt China to change its policy. Overall, the policy is still a success. According to the official figures released by China, a total of only 4,636 Chinese have died from corona, out of a total number of infections of just over a hundred thousand.
Harsh and cruel policies
The actual figures are probably higher because not every infection was registered at the beginning of 2020. There are currently no major outbreaks in China. In those places where corona does appear, the policy is harsh and sometimes cruel, but also effective.
China wants to prevent the omikron variant from throwing a spanner in the works at all costs, just before the Winter Games in Beijing. The event will begin in January, and omikron has already been detected near the capital. Nevertheless, China is confident. Leader Xi Jinping said last week the world is now looking to China. “And China is ready.”
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