Issue. Zero Covid strategy: China’s admission of failure, exposing itself to an explosion of pollution

Three years after the start of the Covid-19 epidemic in Wuhan, the world is once again turning to China because the country could once again become the epicenter of an epidemic that is clearly not over yet. The worrying situation in China stems from an unexpected and brutal change in strategy in confronting the coronavirus.

Since December 2019, China has implemented a strict strategy against the novel coronavirus based on strict population control, forced confinement affecting millions of people for the slightest positive case, monitoring by app, and PCR tests in training and isolation centers that look like concentration camps. . If at the beginning of the epidemic this strategy paid off because it made it possible to protect the most vulnerable, generally poorly vaccinated, in the long run it was a delusion in the context of a global pandemic with successive waves.

A fire sparked a wave of protests

Other countries that locked themselves into this kind of strategy of isolation and maximum controls ended up abandoning it, such as South Korea, Singapore and New Zealand. Not China, which made it an absolute principle, not China, which Xi Jinping made proof of its success. In September 2020, the latter evokes “the victory of the Chinese people in the battle against the coronavirus.” Few would dare claim otherwise. But the epidemic has quickly overtaken China, especially in Hong Kong, the rebellious former British colony where cases are exploding.

It is not enough to question the certainty of Xi Jinping who is increasingly tightening travel restrictions… until the breaking point on November 24. On that day, a building in Urumqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang, was destroyed by fire. There are ten dead and nine seriously injured. For many Chinese, relief work has been hampered by the health restrictions imposed by the zero Covid strategy.

The next day, demonstrations broke out that spread across the country. Compounding public discontent with ongoing PCR testing and lockdowns are demands for free speech not seen so blatantly since the Tiananmen student protests of 1989. We even hear calls for the resignation of Xi Jinping, who has barely been re-elected as president.

2 million potential deaths

The regime could, as in the past, choose repression. On the contrary, it has chosen – to everyone’s surprise – to ease restrictions in a surprising and drastic way. To justify this rollback with the success of its “zero Covid” strategy, the regime this month announced the end of large-scale confinement, the end of the systematic placement of people who tested positive for the virus in dreaded quarantine centers, and the withdrawal of the app used. To track the movements of the population and ensure that they are not in an affected area.

In other words, China is choosing, like the West, to “live with” the virus…but without having the weapons. Its population of 1.4 billion is poorly immunized, and its hospitals ill-prepared for an influx of infected patients. After a few relaxing days, covid cases are so everywhere that many cities are trying to reinstate restrictions while others are hastily building extra hospital beds.

Many experts fear a human tragedy, estimating that 60% of the country’s population – equivalent to 10% of the world’s population – could be infected in the coming months, and that more than two million people could die…