China has levy a fresh series of lockdowns survey a record daily high in COVID-19 cases . Mainland China report over 31,000 COVID-19 event on Wednesday , November 23 , according tostate media . That ’s high than the previous record high of 28,000 back in April ( although bear in mind , it ’s still small than the UK and the US ) .
face with this new billow , many are wondering why China is still persisting with its high-priced and topnotch - hard-and-fast “ zero - COVID ” public health insurance .
Despite the pandemic firstbeing reportedin China , they have fared comparatively well against COVID-19 compare to many other rural area , experiencing significantly humble rates of infectioncompared tomost of Europe and North America .
Some of this success has been credited to its so - called “ zero COVID ” policy . The aim of this strategy is to closely track the population through mass examination , contact trace , and surveillance , then sharply stamp out any ear of contagion through lockdown , quarantine , and isolation .
This is play off to the“living with COVID-19strategy ” that ’s now being implemented throughout much of the creation . The ethos of this policy is that the disease is shifting from a pandemic stage to an endemic degree and will probably never be eliminated . The virus still needs to be closely surveilled and care , but lockdowns and other coarse precautions like we saw in 2020 are only used as a pecker of last repair .
It was antecedently possible to debate China ’s zero COVID policy was working when showcase numbers remained blue compare to the rest of the world . However , with slip now surging , it ’s harder to keep that case – and cracks in the programme are demonstrate .
Critics in the US havearguedthat the policy is authoritarian and has violated human rights . There have been accusations that countless people in China have beenforcibly quarantinedin alloy boxes in an belligerent bid to control infection . Others havebeen toldthey must be meet with electronic monitoring tags as part of the fight against COVID-19 in their local area .
This tight restraint of the population has generated pockets of discontent in China . In a rarefied display of public protest , protestshave eruptedthis week at the Earth ’s biggest iPhone mill in Zhengzhou . Videos of the action posted on societal media show worker marching and being confront by people in hazmat suits and howler police .
As for why China is ardently stick its guns despite the mount trouble , it ’s less cleared . Some have argue thereare somewell - founded public health concerns behind the strategy , but it ’s becoming progressively apparent that it ’s largely a matter of political science .
in the beginning this class , research worker and economists atS&P Global Market Intelligencespeculated that China would n’t change its stance on COVID-19 dominance until the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party elected its new leader . By the time this crucial political issue close on October 22 , Xi Jinping gained his third term as China ’s top drawing card at the Congress .
Now his top executive is secured , we could potentially see some mix - up in the public health insurance , although S&P Global Market Intelligence believes it ’s improbable we see any meaningful alteration before affair have settled in 2023 .
