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Coronavirus in ChinaCovid at its peak, the population at its extreme
The country reported the highest number of new Covid-19 cases in six months on Monday, despite multiple lockdowns that disrupted the economy and daily life.
The inhabitants’ patience is severely tested.
AFP
Chinese health authorities disappointed hopes of an easing of the zero Covid policy this weekend. This will continue to be applied “invariably” despite the weariness of the inhabitants. This strategy consists of confining neighborhoods or entire cities as soon as cases appear, carrying out mass screening or even quarantining people who test positive and travelers arriving from abroad.
But these restrictions are sometimes accompanied by poor access to food or medical care and difficulty traveling within China and abroad, which erodes the patience of the locals. The health ministry announced on Monday nearly 5,500 new local positive cases, many of them in the coastal province of Guangdong (south), a major manufacturing center.
In Zhengzhou (downtown), the largest iPhone factory in the world it is still confined. The site “is currently operating with significantly reduced capacity” and this disruption will lead to delays in deliveries, the US group Apple admitted on Sunday.
A suicide creates controversy
In addition, the suicide by defenestration of a 55-year-old woman in the confined city of Hohhot, in Inner Mongolia (north), caused a sensation this weekend because, by admission of the same authorities, the Covid restrictions have hindered the intervention of the services of emergency. As is sometimes the case in some districts in China, the entrance doors to the residential building were sealed to prevent entry and exit.
The two daughters of the unfortunate, one of whom lived in the same apartment, had however warned the authorities that the mother was suffering from anxiety and had suicidal thoughts, asking in vain to evacuate. “Who has the right to weld building doors?” a user of the Weibo social network wondered furiously. “In case of an earthquake or fire, who will be responsible?” Local authorities have publicly criticized the mismanagement by neighborhood officials.
Drama related to anti-Covid restrictions occurs regularly. A few days ago, a three-year-old boy died of carbon monoxide asphyxiation in Lanzhou, the confined capital of the province of Gansu (northwest). In a message posted on the Internet but now deleted, the father accused the enforcement officers of having obstructed his access to the hospital. The district authorities therefore apologized.
(AFP)
