Extreme measures, zero tolerance ... Faced with the epidemic resumption, China on a war footing

The same videos that almost two years ago in Wuhan are playing on Chinese social networks. We hear residents locked in their homes screaming their despair: “Who still has something to eat?” Says a woman who films her window wide open on a city plunged into darkness. I’m going to starve! ” His complaints are echoed by other residents of this district of Xi’an in confinement. For more than a week, the 13 million inhabitants of the former imperial capital located 900 kilometers from Beijing have been locked in their homes after the discovery of just under 1,000 Covid patients.

But the authorities, who are struggling to stem this epidemic resumption, have stepped up containment measures. Initially, one person per household could go out to refuel: first every other day, then every three days. Now, as in Wuhan at the start of the pandemic, they are totally prohibited from leaving their homes. The town hall recognizes having difficulties to ensure supplies and has mobilized tens of thousands of volunteers to bring food to families. Sun Yuping, one of them, testifies on the state channel CCTV: “We will deliver basic necessities to the entrance of each residence, the packages of supplies will be disinfected. We will sort them and drop them off at the ground floor of each apartment block “.

The authorities are worried about the approach of the Olympics

These “volunteers” are members of the neighborhood committees – offshoots of the Maoist period, they are the eyes and ears of the Party in every block of buildings. Zealous auxiliaries of the police, they are also mobilized to distribute food in each epidemic outbreak. Already used during the first confinements, as in Wuhan, the logistics are well oiled.

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The extreme measures decreed in Wuhan aim to respect the “zero Covid” policy advocated by the Chinese government. And beware of those who do not follow the rules. In Xi’an, the police arrested at least seven people for trying to bypass the quarantine, disrupting order and “spreading rumors,” according to local media.

But this policy is put to the test this winter, where the cases of Covid – admittedly limited compared to other countries – are at their highest for 20 months. A few weeks before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government is worried and is preparing people’s minds for more severe control measures. “With these new variants and the arrival in China of thousands of people for the Olympics, we must expect an upsurge in new cases”, anticipates a representative of the Beijing 2022 Committee.

The borders, almost closed since March 2020 (with 98% of international flights to or from China canceled compared to 2019) should not reopen for several months, once the Olympics and the Congress of the Communist Party have passed. political mass in October 2022 where Xi Jinping will seek a third term. Until then, nothing should go off the rails.

The borders with Hong Kong and Macao, which were to reopen in January, are also likely to remain closed, to the chagrin of separated families, who hoped to be able to celebrate the Lunar New Year together on February 1.

“Buffer” border zones

In this context, China is seeking to understand how the virus was able to cross its great health wall. Chinese media say the virus spread to Xi’an via the air conditioning system at the airport where a plane from Pakistan with many sick people landed just before this new outbreak.

The government, which is still shaking up the threat of a virus coming from abroad, is studying the possibility of creating buffer zones made up of border towns with Russia and Mongolia (to the north), and Burma and Vietnam (to the south) . Other areas are planned around international airports like Xi’an, Canton, Shanghai, Beijing and Tianjin and around major freight ports like Ningbo (in the east). In these “buffer zones” zero tolerance will apply with total quarantine in the slightest case and permanent surveillance of residents, and regular disinfection of buildings. At the Vietnamese border, several smugglers were arrested and exhibited in public (with their names displayed on signs hung around their necks) for having crossed the border illegally and “brought the virus” to China.

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Outside these areas, however, life would be “normal”, the Chinese authorities say. But all places in contact with foreign countries would be affected. Enough to continue to disrupt logistics chains as has been the case in recent months. In Zhejiang province (in the east of the country), hundreds of factories have been shut down. And container transport, where crews are prohibited from disembarking, has also been severely hampered: deliveries, particularly to Europe, can take up to three months longer due to manufacturing and transport delays.