To the people of Shanghai who reached the limit of their patience with blockage that got them stuck in home for two weeks, excellent health official has the message: “We cannot allow our guards to down”.
Despite reports of closure of everyday life in Shanghai has caused food shortages and reduced access medical care, Liang Wangnian, senior official This was stated by the National Health Commission of China. on Sunday when the lockdown was best way to ensure “people first life first”.
under zero-COVID-19 strategyShanghai and more than a dozen other cities in China is under full or partial locks to deal with spades in Cases Omicron of coronavirus. Lockdowns expose growing social and economic cost of in strategy which was abandoned almost everywhere in in world.
Another countries removed most of the restrictions, but “lying flat is not option for China,” said Mr. Liang, referring to the phenomenon of “lie flat” or relax, in in face of a challenge.
Relatively low vaccination rates in China rate among the elderly people and its limited healthcare resources for the treatment of severe cases of the virus continues to worry officials and prevent them from easing restrictions on the pandemic. about 264 million people over Age of 60 in China and about 40 million of they were not vaccinated against coronavirus.
Infections among this group were inevitable, Mr. Liang said, but “we have to take it seriously.” He said in interview with Chinese state media.
Health authorities reported 27,419 new cases of local transmission in China on Monday, most of them in Shanghai, a city of 26 million. Number of cases small compared with many countries, but the recent surge caused by the Omicron variant is the biggest China has experienced so far.
China reported more than 200,000 local cases of coronavirus infection in Shanghai from the time current outbreak started last month, majority of they are mild or asymptomatic. city It has just one the case that currently classified as “severe”; the officials said required inpatient treatment, but did not specify. No deaths reported in in current flash.
Mass testing, etc. key part of China strategy to eliminate infections, allowed health authorities to isolate patients who test positive and quickly send them to the hospital or isolation means. southern Chinese city of Guangzhou said last a week to test all 18 million of its inhabitants after small amount of cases of local transmission – less than 30 – have been reported over previous seven days. Officials in Shanghai announced a second round of mass testing for that city25 million inhabitants over weekend.
in city of Wuhan where is the coronavirus first appeared, the officials began on From Monday, demand from residents who wish to use in cityMetro was negative result on nucleic acid test inside past 48 hours. Passengers must show them test result and scan the code from a specific subway car they sit in so the authorities can keep track of exposure as per notice posted online on Wuhan subway on Monday.
Although Mr. Liang indicated that China would not back down from its coronavirus strategyauthorities in Shanghai replied to public protest over in the cityprocessing of flash. Vice Mayor said on Saturday what city would begin about the lifting of quarantine measures in areas that are not visited for 14 days new case. On Monday, city announced a system classify areas based on on room of reported positive cases in everyone.
However, those moves This will do little to mitigate the broader economic impact of the lockdown, some economists say.
“Degree of lock away more seriously than people understand,” said Bo Zhuang, a Chinese. analyst at investment firm Loomis Sayles.
For most of last yearjust a few cities in China has been blocked in any one time, and the economic damage was manageable, Mr. Zhuang said. But nowadays, according to him, the equivalent of around quarter of China’s production volume is on Keep.
“Now we’re talking about a couple of provinces are closed because of Omicron,” Mr. Zhuang said. “It would be risk going forward”.
Growing frustration over disruption of daily life is another risk.
When millions of people in Wuhan learned on Monday morning about new rules introduced overnight in relation to the citymetro systemmany turned to social media to complain.
“Since Wuhan lifted the lockdown two years ago, it has put in place the strictest prevention and control measures,” wrote Zhai Haichao, a writer and businessman. on popular Chinese social media Weibo platform. “It’s alarming that we don’t see the end of pandemic”.
