The country recorded more than 31,000 infections in just one day
The zero covid strategy fails to contain this wave and generates great social discontent and damage to the economy
Only half of the over 80s are vaccinated
China has registered the highest number of daily infections from covid-19 since the pandemic started almost three years ago. 31,527 positives were detected on Wednesday despite the harsh measures implicit in the zero covid strategy and which is generating protests and discontent.
This strategy involves applying lockdowns and movement restrictions to the population at the onset of the slightest outbreak. It is a type of action that helped control infections at the beginning of the pandemic but which is being seen overwhelmed by population fatigue and the increased transmission capacity of the new variants.
One of the hypotheses under consideration as to why the President Xi Jinping insists on this strategy despite the serious economic damage and social unrest it generates, underlines the low efficacy of vaccines against the disease administered in China. The truth is that vaccination coverage of the elderly is lower than in the West, with only half over 80 years vaccinated with complete carda.
Precisely, the current covid surge occurs after the restrictions have been slightly relaxed and, for example, close contacts of positive cases have been allowed, instead of carrying out a 7-day quarantine in a state center, they can 5 days in a detention center and another 3 at home. The intensity of secondary case monitoring has also been reduced.
At the moment, the outbreaks of covid-19 affect the main cities of the country in 31 different provinces, including the capital Beijing.
