The city of Shanghai is affected by China’s extreme corona policy. People are locked inside their own homes. Many lack food and toilet paper.
—
During the day, the streets are completely empty. When evening comes, the people of Shanghai open their windows. And screaming. The howls of trapped Chinese resonate between the doors. Videos of the screams spread on social media. This is a serious problem for the Communist Party.
The party has put enormous prestige in corona politics. The goal is zero infection. The remedy an extreme infection control.
Entire blocks of flats, shopping centers and office buildings have been closed down abruptly. People have had to stay on site, often for several days, without getting home. Almost two weeks ago, the authorities did the same with the whole of Shanghai. The whole city was simply locked inside.
It does not work anymore. The despair is so great that the authorities have reopened parts of the city, despite rising infection rates. This may be a sign that China’s corona strategy is about to unravel.
–Howls in the dark
It is about to overflow for the people of Shanghai. A video from the city was widely shared on social media this weekend. It shows people screaming for full lungs out of their windows.
People are not allowed to leave their homes. The shops are closed. It is difficult to get food. Eggs, fruit and toilet paper are in short supply. The inhabitants sneak out at night to barter goods, skriver South China Morning Post.
The newspaper describes how the trade takes place. Zhang Hongyan had ten eggs, but she lacked fruit. Zhang offered the eggs in a group chat on the social media WeChat. One of her neighbors struck. The neighbor offered some oranges in exchange. The illegal trade took place just before midnight. Zhang laid the eggs at the front door of the neighbor. Shortly afterwards, she found the oranges in the same place.
Ying Chengtuo had to come up with something else. He therefore lent his cat to the neighbor, for half an hour. He got three oranges in return.
Nightmares every night
Chinese President Xi Jinping still stands by the goal of zero infection. It has led to few deaths, but has also had great costs for people affected by infection control. When the even more contagious omicron variant came to China, the result was shutdowns. In Shanghai, it now affects several million. The measures are brutal.
Children may be at risk of being separated from their parents if they test positive for the coronavirus. It causes deep trauma. The American radio channel NPR has collected stories from the closed city. A Chinese woman divorced her 7-year-old son after they both tested positive. The boy did not get to see his mother until after a whole month. He still has nightmares every night.
Toddlers who are divorced from their parents lose the ability to talk, writes NPR. A six-year-old came out of isolation with scratched bones and open wounds on his body. He had inflicted them himself.
–Had to open parts of the city
On Monday, the Shanghai authorities had to open up parts of the city. This is despite the fact that the infection continues to spread. Shanghai is now divided into three different zones. One part is closed down, another part is partially closed down. In a third part of the city, residents will be allowed to move around.
The closed areas can only open after two weeks without any new cases of infection. There are 26 million people living in Shanghai. On Tuesday, 26,330 new infections were registered, according to local authorities. Most of the infected have no symptoms, reports the German news agency DPA.
Declared victory over the virus
The Chinese government now has a serious problem. The infection spreads quickly. Omikron is even harder to stop than the previous variants of the coronavirus. If China is to maintain the goal of zero infection, its citizens must prepare for even more shutdowns. And for the country’s leadership, it is difficult to change course.
– The proagada makes it very difficult to change policy, says Alfred Wu to CNN. He is Professor of Political Science at the National University of Singapore.
The Chinese authorities have added enormous prestige to the strategy. In 2020, President Xi and China had triumphed over the virus. It showed that the Communist Party was “superior,” Xi said.
It will therefore be a great defeat if the virus spreads. It will also be dangerous for many ancient Chinese. Many of them have not been vaccinated. Half of all Chinese over 60 years missing booster dose. And the Chinese vaccines are bad. The vaccines provide less protection than some of the vaccines used in Norway.
–
