China abruptly changed the course of its strategy against Covid-19 and with it the story of the disease that plunged the planet into its biggest crisis since World War II in 2020. Eleven months after the contagious Omicron variant broke out within its borders, and amid its worst wave of infections to date, the world’s most populous nation overcame a speech criticizing the West – and the United States in particular – ” the mistaken perception that this strain is little more than the flu” and, with a change of course, states that the virus “is not so dangerous anymore” and that “they are civilians [y no el Estado] take responsibility for your own health. Three weeks after this 180-degree turn, President Xi Jinping, who personally spearheaded the “people’s struggle against the virus,” has not yet publicly commented on the shift in thinking.
Beijing backed down and assured that the fight against the pandemic is “in a new phase”, contradicting arguments that a large proportion of its 1.4 billion population have died since March due to blockades, PCR tests and controls that dominate the appearance. an integral part of your daily routine. The heavy hand with which anti-Covid measures were applied allowed China to record a small number of infections and deaths in the first two years of the pandemic (only 5,241 people officially died), but the discovery of the first Omicron cases in January 2022 check that shield against the corona virus.
And as the government reacted strongly to the continued rise in infections in the spring, state media reinforced the discourse that the Covid-zero strategy was “the greatest proof of the superiority of the Chinese system” over the Western one. The newspaper library of the nationalist newspaper Global Times leaves sentences such as “to give up the fight against Covid-19 and allow it to spread unchecked would be a betrayal of all humanity” and that “the misconception that Omicron is little more than the flu is a hoax to weaken acceptance of the Covid-zero strategy among the Chinese.”
Now, pro-government analysts, including the former director of the Global Times, the controversial Hu Xijin, have stopped calling for strict measures to minimize the risks of the virus and have even reported on networks how the disease is spreading. Zhong Nanshan, a respected epidemiologist and a leading public voice in the early days of the pandemic, last week suggested calling Omicron a “coronavirus cold.” The turnaround is especially surprising given that in May, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus was immediately censured for his comments that the zero-Covid policy was unsustainable with such a contagious variant.
Days earlier, Xi Jinping had warned that easing lockdown measures would be devastating and would “inevitably” lead to “a large number of serious illnesses and deaths” and called for “resolute struggle against those who disrupt prevention policies, in doubt pull or hinder”. 🇧🇷 The legitimacy the Chinese leader gained as “commander-in-chief” of the “fight against the virus” – in March the official press assured that he developed the Covid-zero strategy himself – earned him a third term as secretary-general in October General Communist Party, an unprecedented event among its predecessors, which has given it unprecedented power since the days of Mao Zedong.
“By launching a full-scale people’s war to stop the spread of the virus, we have fully protected people’s health and safety and made tremendously encouraging progress in both the response to the epidemic and economic and social development,” he said at the event. 20th Party. Congress.
The last time the Chinese president was appointed commander of the fight against Covid was on November 10, when he pledged to “firmly” implement the Covid zero strategy and minimize the impact on the economy and society. Although Beijing issued 20 guidelines the next day to “adjust” the protocols, local governments continued to take matters into their own hands by imposing lockdowns, fearing that excessive easing would fuel an even bigger wave and faster contagion. These tight controls fanned the flames of the largest social protests of the Xi era, which analysts say hastened the demise of Covid Zero.
waste of resources
Despite Chinese officials and health experts saying the postponement is based on the virus being less deadly and China now willing to adapt, foreign epidemiologists believe the government has wasted resources and time, not against , by tackling the root of the virus. the problem. , as the millions of dollars invested in running daily testing campaigns or building detention centers should be used to vaccinate the elderly or improve the capacity of intensive care units. “Reality has fully demonstrated that our anti-pandemic policies are correct, scientific and effective. It has won popular support and can withstand the tests of history,” said a comprehensive report published on April 15 on the front page of the party’s main newspaper, the People’s Daily, which concluded that Xi’s policies was ‘completely correct’. the process. 🇧🇷
For his part, the Chinese leader is silent. On December 7, the day the government announced the unexpected end of the Covid-0 strategy, Xi made a state visit to Saudi Arabia and indicated that he did not want to be associated with the abrupt reopening and its consequences: Airfinity, a company that analyzes health data estimates that there will be more than a million infections and more than 5,000 deaths every day in the coming weeks.
Source: La Neta Neta
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
