Chinese vice-premier ‘deeply ashamed’ over woman losing baby after Xian hospital turned her away citing Covid-19 rules - "Chinese Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan said she felt deeply ashamed that a woman in the northwestern city of Xian lost her unborn baby after a hospital refused to admit her because of an expired Covid-19 test result... Several hospital staff members have been sacked or suspended and local health officials have been given warnings over the incident. A video circulated online showed the woman, who was eight months pregnant, sitting outside Xian Gaoxin Hospital with blood running down her legs. Her niece said she was refused entry for having a Covid-19 test result four hours too old. Xian’s anti-epidemic task force on Friday banned hospitals from refusing admission on the basis of someone not having a negative test result from the previous 48 hours, saying people in that category would be tested at the hospital. It also ordered all health centres to open for people with regular illnesses and said that they should not be closed because of staff helping to conduct mass testing... A second woman in Xian had reportedly lost her unborn child after a hospital turned her away on the grounds that she lived in a “closed loop” area that, under lockdown rules, she was not supposed to leave."
Is the story still made up by the biased Western media if even if the Vice-Premier apologised?
Shanghai Covid: Ikea shoppers flee attempt to lock down store - "Health officials were attempting to lock the store in Xuhui district down as a customer had been in close contact with a positive Covid case. Videos show the guards closing the doors at one point, but a crowd forced them open and made their escape... The scenes of panic at Ikea follow videos last week showing people in another part of Shanghai running out of a building over rumours of an abnormal Covid test result."
COVID-19: Beijing closes down businesses as millions told to work from home - but government in China avoids calling it a lockdown - "Schools, gyms, hairdressers, parks, restaurants and bars are shut, millions have been told to work from home, but do not call it a lockdown. The Beijing government zealously avoids the term. Instead, the phrase currently in favour is jing mo, "stay silent"... And because everything is shut, life is fairly boring. Getting a PCR test - you need a negative one within the last 48 hours to enter supermarkets, or your district may have been told do to mass testing - is one of the more interesting things to do. Beijingers themselves are calling this period "dynamic food storage", a play on the official policy "dynamic COVID zero", because people keep having to replace the fresh food they have bought in case of full lockdown. Effectively, the situation here is pretty similar to the UK lockdowns, although households are still allowed to mix. Of course some people are really locked down, shut in their residential compounds with guards at the door, or sent to centralised quarantine if they are COVID positive or a close contact. Boredom is one thing here in the capital but nothing compared the misery of the lockdown in Shanghai. Again, they do not call it lockdown, even though people have been kept inside for six weeks now... Others areas have had the gut punch of another official notice, telling them they cannot even order deliveries, instead relying on the government to supply groceries, and must stay inside their rooms for another two to five days. People are sceptical about that time frame. They were told the initial Shanghai lockdown would last just four days. Videos circulating on social media continue to show shocking and bizarre scenes. A distressed woman being separated from her child by the da bai, meaning "big whites", the ubiquitous officials wearing full PPE. Or workers entering someone's home and dousing the whole place - sofas, pictures, clothes - in disinfectant, although the government has since said this practice should not be followed."
Coronavirus: Disabled boy dies in China after father quarantined - "Two officials in China have been removed from their posts after a teenager with cerebral palsy died when his father - and sole carer - was quarantined for suspected coronavirus. Yan Cheng, 16, was found dead on Wednesday, a week after his father and brother were placed in quarantine. The boy was fed only twice during this time"
From 2020
Tesla Shanghai factory workers living on-site and working 12-hour shifts six days a week - "Workers at the Tesla factory in Shanghai have reportedly been sleeping on-site and working 12-hour shifts with just one day off per week. With the Chinese government continuing to pursue its zero-COVID strategy, Shanghai has been stuck in lockdown for more than six weeks, leading to new disruptions in production for the U.S. carmaker... More than 20,000 bankers and traders in the city were reported to have been living at their offices last month, as financial services firms adopted the closed-loop system. Meanwhile, Shanghai Port, the world’s busiest seaport, is reported to have maintained a 24-hour operation by implementing the policy."
COVID curbs prompt 93% of U.S. firms in Shanghai to cut revenue forecasts - survey - "A quarter of the 64 consumer and services companies and 20% of the 69 manufacturers said they planned to decrease investment in China. Only one company said it planned to increase investment in the country, where a zero-COVID policy is causing concern about further restrictions and economic fallout... the possibility of lockdowns loom every time a new case is found. In practice, while most curbs have been lifted, many people in Shanghai still remain in lockdown for periods from a few days to several weeks due to such incidents"
China Uncensored - Posts | Facebook - "Can’t count as a Covid death statistic if you die of starvation welded into your apartment! 🧠 #china"
Shanghai University Sparks Ridicule After Moving Swimming Test Online - "Shanghai University said that students who had yet to complete a 50-meter (164 feet) swimming test before graduating could do so "online" from home. The move was made to "ensure that the graduation process proceeds smoothly" amid Shanghai's Covid outbreaks, the school said on its website in a now-deleted notice that was screengrabbed and widely circulated over social media... To pass the swimming requirement this year, students must fill out an online "Basic Theory of Swimming" test by May 29, the notice said... Many users also shared videos of themselves pretending to swim in their rooms as a joke submission for the test"
Lessons From China’s Covid Lockdowns - WSJ - "Beijing’s Covid lockdowns are an economic danger to China and everyone else, and the Communist Party seems to know it. Witness recent, belated attempts to pump up economic growth amid the zero-Covid policy disaster. Large swathes of China have been under some form of lockdown in recent months... This self-inflicted disaster is a growing danger to the global economy. Any supply chain passing through China either has snapped already or is in danger of doing so. Beijing’s zero-Covid mistake is disrupting the supply of a wide range of goods for consumers elsewhere, and is prompting more companies to reconsider their China business. The biggest risk, however, is to China’s own economy—and Beijing increasingly realizes it. The country is all but certain to miss the Party’s 5.5% economic-growth target for the year, and that already was a modest goal compared to years past. Surveys of business confidence and investment are dire and the property market continues to sink. This is causing Beijing to worry about employment, with Premier Li Keqiang dispatched this weekend to demand that officials double down on job creation. Beijing’s main concern is social unrest if lockdowns pull prosperity out of the grasp of millions of Chinese waiting to move into the middle class... The situation is dire enough that Beijing is exhorting the private economy to lead a turnaround. In recent years President Xi Jinping had tried to reduce the influence of private firms with a harsh and arbitrary regulatory crackdown, especially on tech firms. But in recent weeks, as he sees slow growth ahead of his expected coronation this fall to a third term, Mr. Xi has spoken of the virtues of private capital to fuel investment and growth. Mr. Li has chimed in with what’s billed as a jobs plan, featuring tax relief for private companies and pressure on banks to extend credit to small and medium-sized enterprises. This is better economic policy, but businesses believe it at their own risk. Investors saw in last year’s tech crackdown how hostile Mr. Xi can be toward successful private companies. Traders in China’s highly speculative stock markets have been happy to play along with the recent change of heart, with tech stocks responding well. And Chinese firms, which have little choice but to endure, will welcome the political respite. But foreign firms that do business in China, or rely on it for goods and components, have learned a hard lesson. The Communist Party’s political needs will always trump economic policy. If Mr. Xi decides to invade Taiwan, he won’t care about the damage to Western supply chains. Foreign companies need to minimize their exposure to China’s political vagaries or risk more business trouble ahead."
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom calls China’s 'zero covid' unsustainable and gets censored - The Washington Post - "Authorities in China have blocked debate over its controversial approach of constantly striving for zero coronavirus infections through draconian lockdowns. Researchers have warned that abandoning the policy would unleash a “tsunami” of coronavirus cases... The comment by Tedros, once seen as an ally of Beijing, is a setback for China, which has strenuously defended its “dynamic clearing” covid policy. In April, China’s Foreign Ministry said the country’s coronavirus controls were in line with the WHO’s principles and were spoken of “highly” by the health body. Following his comments, the hashtags “World Health Organization” and “Tedros” were blocked on microblog Weibo. The messaging platform WeChat banned the sharing of an article from the United Nations’ official WeChat account that included the director’s comments. It also removed a video clip of his remarks because of “a violation” of the terms of service. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian in a news briefing Wednesday called on Tedros to avoid making “irresponsible” remarks and to view China’s coronavirus policies “objectively.”... China’s top leaders declared last week that there would be no easing of zero-covid measures and that they would fight against all efforts to “distort, doubt or deny” the government’s policies... Chinese state media ignored the WHO director’s comments, instead publishing articles citing the WHO’s May 5 report on excess deaths caused by the coronavirus between Jan. 1, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2021."
Downtown Beijing goes quiet as zero-Covid policy smothers capital - "Some finance workers were moving into hotels near their offices, as restrictions start to shape daily life in the city of 21 million. "Our company said we should try not to go home as they feel that there may be risks in commuting," a Beijing-based investment manager who has moved into a hotel near his workplace. "Some of my friends have been advised not to take public transport to work, and to drive or take a bicycle, so as not to be affected by the spread."... The frustration has also hit the streets -- in a country where protest is rare and swiftly snuffed out by authorities. Authorities have verified a video that ripped across social media over the weekend showing residents in Zhuanqiao Town neighbourhood clashing with hazmat-suited health authorities over food shortages. "Police took action as soon as possible to persuade onlookers to disperse and calm the situation down," a statement by the Zhuanqiao Town Covid response team said Sunday. "According to an on-site investigation, the troublemakers had sufficient supplies at home." Residents of the neighbourhoods hit by new curfews -- including some areas previously declared lower-risk -- have been ordered not to step out of their apartments except for PCR tests for as long as a week and forbidden from ordering "non-essential" deliveries, according to the notices."
Customers get stuck in hot pot shop for 3 days & get free flow of food - "Due to the blockade, 10 staff members, and around 40 customers were trapped in the shop for three days."
Shanghai moves to impose tightest restrictions yet - "Shanghai officials will over the next few days further restrict access to food and hospitals in some parts of the city, the most severe phase of its extended lockdown yet. Commercial food deliveries are not allowed and access to hospitals for all but emergencies must first be approved. Neighbours of Covid-19 cases and others living close by are also being forced into government quarantine facilities. Shanghai is now in its seventh week of city-wide restrictions. Confirmed cases have fallen significantly from their peak, but authorities have not yet been able to hit the target of what they call "societal zero", where no cases are reported outside of quarantine facilities. Despite the tougher measures, Shanghai officials insist that people living in half the city's districts are now free to leave their homes and walk around... The BBC is already aware of some cases where residents have had difficulties in getting emergency ambulances to come quickly, with some patients forced to use private cars to get to a hospital... State censors have moved quickly to remove questions about the legality of the disinfection and also of the moving large numbers of people from their homes, despite testing negative. In some cases, people who have been removed from their homes and taken into central quarantine have been told to leave a key to their home, usually in the door, so officials can come in and disinfect the space. Some legal figures have questioned if this move is "constitutional". A constitutional law professor based in Shanghai had earlier posted an open letter online stating that forcing residents into quarantine centres required State Council approval or new laws passed by the legislature. His post was quickly taken down. As concern over food supplies grow, city officials said they would remove anyone living in temporary accommodation on the streets or in vacant buildings, placing them into "closed loop management" - which means that employees have to live as well as work at their offices or factories."
China: worse | Financial Times - "We have been pessimistic about China. But not pessimistic enough, as you will see... The last time we wrote about China, at the end of last month, the topic was the country’s “impossible trilemma”. Solving simultaneously for 5.5 per cent economic growth, a stable debt-to-GDP ratio, and zero Covid-19 is impossible. Given this, the short-term path of least political resistance for Beijing is supporting growth by pouring debt into low-productivity real estate/infrastructure projects. Recent noises from Xi Jinping make it clear that the country plans to take the easy path again. But it turns out that describing the situation as a trilemma is too generous. Horrific economic data from China in April suggests that the zero-Covid policy may be inconsistent with anything but meagre growth, even in the presence of government attempts at stimulus... China’s real estate industry is undergoing a wholesale restructuring. Homebuyers are going to be treading carefully... Why would a corporation want to risk a big new investment, even if bank financing were available, when the zero-Covid policy has an estimated 300mn city dwellers under some form of lockdown. How do we know it’s a demand issue? Zhu noted “the discrepancy between pick up in M2 [broad money] growth . . . and slowdown in loan growth . . . Accordingly, the ratio of new loans to new deposits fell to 86.2 per cent.” That’s the lowest ratio in five years... Gavekal Dragonomics noted there is “a fundamental tension between maintaining the current Covid prevention strategy and lifting growth”, which renders fiscal stimulus increasingly impotent — as demonstrated by low infrastructure investment in April... People don’t buy new houses when they are locked in their old ones, and businesses don’t borrow when supply chains are shut down. Will the government relent on zero Covid? No one seems to think so."
Can Xi Jinping vanquish Covid without crushing China’s economy? | Financial Times - "there are crucial differences between the successful nationwide clampdowns at the start of the pandemic and the current series of rolling closures. The 2020 measures were a relatively short, sharp shock. They coincided with the annual lunar new year holiday — China’s equivalent of the western Christmas and New Year break — during which many manufacturers routinely close for two or three weeks. After an extended holiday, most of the country reopened within a month. Only Hubei and Wuhan were subjected to longer restrictions, and even these were lifted by late March. The impact on growth mirrored the brevity of the closures, with a 6.9 per cent year-on-year decline in first-quarter economic output, followed by a steadily accelerating recovery for the rest of the year. By contrast, this spring’s lockdowns have been ad hoc and open-ended. They are ultimately controlled by low-level district or neighbourhood officials who respond — often brutally — to sometimes contradictory policy signals from the top of the Chinese Communist party. At a May 5 meeting of the party’s most powerful body, the Politburo Standing Committee, Xi reiterated that he would not tolerate any let-up in the effort to eliminate all Covid cases from China. More worryingly for business owners such as Wang, he did so without his previous reassurances to “reconcile zero-Covid with growth” or to “minimise the impact of the pandemic on the economy”... James Zimmerman, a China lawyer at Perkins Coie who recently underwent a five-week quarantine ordeal to return to Beijing from the US, says 10 of his 30 colleagues in the capital have been caught in random residential lockdowns, with “more expected to get the call to stay at home at any time”. “The uncertainty and unpredictability of the whiplash policy changes is a dismal experience,” he added. “It’s now a cat-and-mouse game to avoid crossing lines into areas on lockdown or near lockdown.” The government finds itself in the difficult position of trying to fight “two battles simultaneously: containing Covid and preventing the deterioration of the economy”, says Chen Long at Plenum, a Beijing-based consultancy. “Officials are told to win both,” he adds, “but the reality is they must prioritise one over the other. Zero-Covid still trumps the economy for now.” This is true even while fears for the economy are being voiced by the premier Li Keqiang or by vice-premier Liu He, Xi’s most-trusted economic adviser who is particularly concerned about the lockdowns’ impact on the property and financial sectors... One such official in the city of Nanjing, Jiangsu province, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to foreign media, voiced his frustration: “The Politburo Standing Committee made it clear last week that fighting Covid was our top priority,” he says. “But we can’t ignore the economy, which is in freefall.” His dilemma illustrates another difference between these local lockdowns and the national one two years ago. Because of the interconnected nature of China’s sprawling economy, companies in areas subject to moderate or even no controls can still be severely disrupted by the knock-on effects of those elsewhere. The official says his “main job” has become lobbying his counterparts in Shanghai, 270km to the east, to authorise production at suppliers that Nanjing-based manufacturers rely on. “How can large firms operate normally when most of their suppliers are still under lockdown?” he says. “Stimulus won’t work if factories can’t return to normal.” Foreign investors are also caught in the turmoil. Last week 60 per cent of more than 370 respondents to a survey by the EU Chamber of Commerce in China said they were lowering revenue forecasts for the year, while about one-quarter said they would move existing or planned investments out of China... Despite the intensifying economic pain, few expect Xi to relax his zero-Covid campaign before securing an unprecedented third term in power at a party congress later this year. The strategy “has become a political crusade — a political tool to test the loyalty of officials”, says Henry Gao, a China expert at Singapore Management University. “That’s far more important to Xi than a few more digits of GDP growth.”"
China Cements Lockdown Rules Showing the Country's Commitment to Xi' Covid Zero - Bloomberg - "China’s revised Covid guidelines that cut quarantine in half for inbound travelers also created a standardized policy for mass testing and lockdowns when cases flare, showing the country still has a zero tolerance approach to the virus. President Xi Jinping solidified the position during a trip to Wuhan, where the pathogen first emerged in 2019, saying China is capable of achieving a “final victory” over the coronavirus... The first update of the National Health Commission’s protocol since May 2021 sparked enthusiasm in financial markets and increased demand for travel by cutting quaratine time in half, with some analysts projecting it may signal the start of China’s withdrawal from the Covid Zero approach that largely cut it off from the rest of the world since 2020. A closer reading of the document shows it is codifying critical Covid policies that have widely varied until now and lays the groundwork for faster and more extensive deployment of testing and lockdowns. Even with reducing quarantine times to 10 days from as long as three weeks, China remains one of the most difficult countries to enter. “They are modest steps that do not materially change China’s overall Covid stance,” said Louis Kuijs, Asia Pacific chief economist at S&P Global Ratings. “Indeed, as long as ‘dynamic zero’ remains the overall guiding principle, new outbreaks pose serious risks to the economy.”"
Looks like China will be in covid zero hell for the rest of eternity. Or at least till Xi goes
China thinks an ill wind from North Korea is blowing Covid-19 over the border - "China is testing the air from North Korea for traces of Covid-19 and encouraging people living along the border to shut their windows on days with a southerly wind... residents who lived near the river - which measures less than one kilometre wide in some spots - were ordered in a government notice to close their windows and refrain from walking by the river. They were also asked to go for more frequent testing... government censors had also blocked a North Korean public health video reassuring the public that most cases of the omicron variant were mild and could be treated at home. It triggered praise from Chinese internet users, who said that Pyongyang was taking a more scientific approach. “Suddenly I realise we are the most pathetic,” said one social media user."
When you need a scapegoat for your failed policies. I'm not sure if this is more stupid than frozen seafood
Shanghai fences up COVID-hit areas, fuelling fresh outcry - "Shanghai authorities battling an outbreak of COVID-19 have erected fences outside residential buildings, sparking fresh public outcry over a lockdown that has forced much of the city's 25 million people indoors."
Of course the China shills will claim that the fences are fake news spread by the Western media to make China look bad. My friend who was living in Shanghai and witnessed them and shared a video of fire engines in Pudong delayed in responding to a fire due to the fences must be a CIA agent.
After Shanghai lockdown, new career in Singapore gives Canadian teacher hope - "During the recent Covid-19 lockdown in Shanghai, Canadian teacher Jonathan Garcia, 37, would always check on how his fourth-grade students were doing before they started their daily online class. "It was ridiculous how some of my students weren't getting any food but their parents were doctors or lawyers or engineers"... He said the lockdown was the last straw for many foreigners who had been on the fence about whether to stay in SHanghai or return to their home countries and families, whom they had not been able to visit for two years"
Beijing city walks back plan to tighten Covid vaccine requirements - "China’s first large-scale attempt to require Covid vaccinations appears to have ended before it began. On Wednesday, the capital city of Beijing announced that starting Monday, most people would need to be vaccinated before entering social gathering spots like gyms. On Thursday, the city removed mention of the mandate, according to the state-run local newspaper, Beijing Daily."
Interesting. Covid apartheid is less politically acceptable in China than democracies
We must not follow China into a never-ending lockdown nightmare - "Seemingly, everyone has got Covid again. Why, even the Chinese premier Xi Jinping, who reportedly demands that those he meets quarantine for days beforehand, may have it after a trip last week to Hong Kong, where a lawmaker he came into contact with has tested positive... The problem now being encountered is a phenomenon which has long been observed in influenza - so-called "original antigenic sin". This refers to the propensity of the body's immune system to memorise the properties of the first infection, making it less capable of reacting to variants of the same pathogen when they emerge... Early success in containing the virus has for China turned — in the era of vaccines — into a never-ending nightmare of economically crippling shutdowns and mass testing. Officially, China still has the lowest death rate of any major economy, helping to justify the zero-Covid containment strategy applied. In a symbolic visit to Wuhan, epicentre of the original outbreak, President Xi said that the "herd immunity" approach applied in the West, which he disparagingly likened to the "lying down flat movement", wouldn't work in China because of its large population and "would lead to consequences that are unimaginable". bottom of the article to get it every Tuesday Jeremy Warner 5 July 2022 • 2:27pm Jeremy Warner One in 30 Brits currently have Covid, but the number is climbing fast One in 30 Britons currently have Covid, but the number is climbing fast Credit: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg Seemingly, everyone has got Covid again. Why, even the Chinese premier Xi Jinping, who reportedly demands that those he meets quarantine for days beforehand, may have it after a trip last week to Hong Kong, where a lawmaker he came into contact with has tested positive. But let's not exaggerate; the latest Office for National Statistics infection survey suggests that "just" one in 30 of us here in the UK have it at the moment. That number is, however, rising fast, and the way things are going will soon top the last peak reached in March. Vaccines may be good at preventing serious illness, but by the look of it, they are virtually powerless against new and repeated infection. Worryingly, hospitalisations are also picking up fast, and in France there are already warnings of hospitals once more becoming overwhelmed. They thought it was all over; sadly, it is not, even if, thankfully, the mortality rate has shrunk to little more than that of seasonal flu. The problem now being encountered is a phenomenon which has long been observed in influenza - so-called "original antigenic sin". This refers to the propensity of the body's immune system to memorise the properties of the first infection, making it less capable of reacting to variants of the same pathogen when they emerge. Well over 90pc of the UK population will by now have Covid antibodies in their system, either through infection or vaccination. But this doesn't necessarily safeguard against the latest mutations of the omicron variant. As a consequence, lots of people are repeatedly coming down with Covid, sometimes within a few weeks of the previous infection. New vaccines that theoretically provide protection against the latest sub-variants are under development, but the virus seems to be staying one step ahead. As far as Europe and America are concerned, renewed lockdown is pretty much unconscionable, and given now relatively low mortality rates, in any case unjustifiable on almost any cost benefit measure you care to take. But already a certain amount of voluntary social distancing is reemerging — face mask wearing on public transport, for instance, even though there is no legal requirement for it, and, for any excuse not to work, many people are again self-isolating at the slightest sign of a sniffle. Anecdotally, absenteeism is again mounting. I've even heard of overseas holidays being cancelled, though travel chaos may be the overriding factor here. This is bound to have a dampening effect on economic activity. Coming at a time when the cost of living shock is already threatening to push the economy into recession, another Covid wave was just what we didn't need. Yet the major economic impact is not going to come from within these shores. Rather, it will again be from China, the world's second largest economy. It was China that gave us not just the virus itself, but also the idea of lockdown as a method of containing it. Unlike almost everywhere else, the Chinese leadership is sticking with the strategy. Every time there is an outbreak, draconian lockdowns are reimposed. The much more infectious Omicron variant has made this approach a particular challenge. Just as China thinks it has rid itself of infections, up pops another outbreak, as is now occurring in provinces near Shanghai. Early success in containing the virus has for China turned — in the era of vaccines — into a never-ending nightmare of economically crippling shutdowns and mass testing. Officially, China still has the lowest death rate of any major economy, helping to justify the zero-Covid containment strategy applied. In a symbolic visit to Wuhan, epicentre of the original outbreak, President Xi said that the "herd immunity" approach applied in the West, which he disparagingly likened to the "lying down flat movement", wouldn't work in China because of its large population and "would lead to consequences that are unimaginable". But even if true, it is only because China has been both slow to vaccinate and its own homegrown vaccines — no room for Western vaccines in China, obviously — have been substandard. For Xi, who is up for election for an unprecedented third term as party chairman later this year, zero-Covid has been made synonymous with his own success or failure as a leader, and is therefore a totemic policy that cannot be challenged. This might make him more vulnerable to opposition; the policy has come at shocking economic and social cost. But it has also had the effect of suppressing criticism and preventing discussion of alternative strategies. Yet there is no such restriction on external appraisal. From being the standout number one in the Bloomberg Covid resilience rankings — which seek to assess how well countries are dealing with the pandemic — China has sunk all the way down to 51. Only Taiwan, which has similarly applied a zero-Covid strategy, and Russia, are deemed to be doing worse. In any case, the upshot of all this totalitarian madness is that it has holed the Chinese economic miracle below the water line. This might from a Western perspective be deemed a good thing if it slows China's march towards economic hegemony, but because of the way China is integrated into global supply chains, it also damages the West. Stalled production in China means more shortages of key components, and more cost-push inflation just as it looked as if these barriers to economic recovery were beginning to ease."
China's Covid Zero Strategy Could Last Years Under Xi - Bloomberg - "China has staked so much on avoiding virus fatalities, it can’t exit the pandemic as other countries have — by accepting greater death as a reality of living permanently with Covid. Many elderly people in China remain vaccine holdouts: In early July, about 30% of Shanghai’s seniors still hadn’t received even one dose. And Hong Kong’s experience earlier this year showed what could go wrong, as omicron tore through nursing homes, giving the under-prepared city the world’s highest death rate in March. Given the size of China’s population, the stakes are even higher. More than a million people might die if China - which has little natural immunity - were to abandon Covid Zero, according to an analysis by researchers at Shanghai’s Fudan University... Foreign business groups say companies are looking to divert investment away from China and move headcount to other parts of Asia to avoid disruption like that seen during Shanghai’s two-month lockdown earlier this year... Lance, who asked to be identified only by his first name due to the risks of criticizing Xi’s signature policy, now makes most of his purchases online rather than risk going to the store. “The work I do means I need to socialize a lot, but I barely go anywhere these days”... Affluent and well-educated Chinese like Lance will be looking to exit if Covid Zero continues longer term... Living cut off from the world is “not the future they signed up for,” she said. “It’s going to be hard to retain talent and it’s going to be hard to lure talent.” Yet so far Xi is unmoved. In fact, he’s doubling down. In a recent address from Wuhan heavy with symbolism, Xi repudiated the West’s embrace of “herd immunity,” saying the consequences of “lying flat” against the virus would be unimaginable for China... the unequivocal commitment to Covid Zero has led to a reassessment for some who expected the country to reopen once Xi secured a third term at the once-in-five-year Party congress due to be held later in 2022. Covid Zero will remain in place for at least another year because it’s now inextricably tied to Xi, said Joerg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, during a July 20 webinar sponsored by the Peterson Institute. “My guess is China can at the earliest open up late 2023,” he said. Officials “are in a deep hole and they keep digging.”... While China has approved Pfizer Inc.’s Covid anti-viral pill, it hasn’t permitted foreign-made mRNA vaccines shown to have higher efficacy rates than its home-grown, inactivated shots... The bet they’re taking is that somehow Covid Zero will defeat the virus, things will open up some day and economic losses can be recouped, Menon said. “What if that bet is wrong? What is then their Plan B?’’ Menon said. “That is not clear to me or them. They have bet the house on Covid Zero.”"
Weird. Why don't Chinese people trust their government? Damn CIA!
Xi's Strict Covid Zero Policy in China Pushes Wealthy to Leave Country - Bloomberg - "Hu is joining what investment migration consultancy Henley & Partners estimates is a cohort of 10,000 high-net-worth residents seeking to pull $48 billion from China this year — the second-largest predicted wealth and people outflow for a country after Russia... While policy makers haven’t explicitly tightened curbs on relocating, immigration lawyers say moving has become more difficult in recent months as passport processing times have increased and documentation requirements have become more onerous. Shifting large sums of money out of China has also become harder after a pullback by overseas counterparties who had long helped residents sidestep the country’s capital controls via private swap arrangements. That’s setting the stage for a fresh bout of tension between wealthy Chinese and the ruling Communist Party, which was already strained amid President Xi Jinping’s populist campaign for "common prosperity." The government has put a premium on stability ahead of a leadership confab later this year at which Xi is expected to secure an unprecedented third term, but the long-term economic toll on the country of Covid Zero will be determined by the ultimate scope of China’s talent and wealth exodus... Despite the hurdles to leaving, Hu said he’s intent on relocating to Canada. “Can you imagine that I almost starved to death at the beginning of the lockdown in the most developed city in China?” said the 46-year-old, who recently sold much of his majority stake in two high-end Shanghai restaurants for 20 million yuan ($3 million) and has hired an immigration lawyer and wealth manager to help him move. “I am very sad, but it is time to leave.” Migration consultants and lawyers in China said inquiries grew three- to five-fold in spring — when Shanghai was in lockdown — compared to a year earlier. Inquiries about moving money out of the country have grown exponentially, according to interviews with seven bankers who didn't want to be named because they are not authorized to speak publicly... In another sign of the national mood, a recent note from Shanghai-based billionaire Huang Yimeng announcing to employees that he plans to move his family out of China went viral on social media... One private banker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said a Shanghai-based client had recently tried to get her child a Singapore visa to study but was denied by the local government agency... Just a year ago, viable options for shifting money out of China included using cryptocurrencies or making a private arrangement with an overseas counterpart looking to send yuan onshore. However, China's sweeping crackdown on crypto in the last few years has meant bans on almost all activities including exchanges, initial coin offerings, mining and transactions. Meanwhile, swap agreements are becoming more difficult to come by as fewer people want to move money into China"
China zero-Covid: Xiamen swabs freshly caught seafood for coronavirus - "The Chinese coastal city of Xiamen is testing freshly caught fish, crabs and even shrimp for Covid-19 as it goes all out to contain a spiraling outbreak -- a policy drawing ridicule online and criticism from experts who say it's a "waste of resources."... Jin Dongyan, a professor at Hong Kong University's School of Biomedical Sciences, told CNN the policy was a "waste of resources." "They should focus on the people rather than the fish," he said. According to Jin, testing the catch is "completely useless" because the chances of the fish testing positive and spreading the virus to humans was "very low." "It is 100 or 1,000 times more possible that these fishermen got infected by other fishermen. There's no evidence that the fish can transmit the virus"... in January 2022, the Centre for Animal Health and Welfare at the City University of Hong Kong said the risk of getting Covid from animals was "negligible." Previously, reports have emerged of seafood, livestock, fruit and even crops being tested for Covid in China"
