When traveling to European countries remove restrictions derived from the coronavirus and designed how to live with the virus at a post-pandemic stage, Chinese insist on politics covid zero. this masks mandatory even in closed public spaces and often on the streets. Do not enter bars, restaurants or supermarkets without showing a negative result of a test on your mobile phone. test done in the last three days.
The kiosks for the tests are already integrating the street furniture. The government ordered any citizen to get one within a 15-minute walk and the directive was generously complied with. Almost every corner in Beijing has them attended by officials in full protective suits, and it’s enough to avoid the lunch queues to broadcast the process in a matter of minutes. The everyday requires a few minimal annoyances that have already been internalized.
Regrets come with mobility. It is not recommended to leave the country due to the large number of tests required by the airport and the mandatory quarantine on return. The risks of encountering the epidemic also do not encourage domestic tourism or business trips. It is advisable to make sure that there is a “green zone” on the eve of the destination. no problems on the return or in quarantine, but there are no measures to prevent cases from appearing after landing. Thousands of Chinese have been stranded on the tropical island of Sanya by a dozen infections, destined to see white sand beaches and turquoise waters from their hotel room. Other tourist destinations such as Xinjiang, Tibet or Yunnan have also ruined holidays with the activation of illegal quarantines.
strict protocols
this protocols are strict and layoffs triggered by any epidemic are blocking the wide sleeve. An official faced with doubts about his future or common sense will always go to the script. The epidemic returned to the main character neighborhood committeesbusy with the most banal steps until compliance with the anticovid policy falls on their shoulders. Many blame them enthusiasm bordering on despotism. Some foreigners preparing to enjoy freedom in Beijing after the mandatory quarantine in Tianjin upon arrival in China were informed by neighborhood committees that they needed an additional one to come from a city with cases. It didn’t matter that they insisted that they never set foot on the street in Tianjin and that they had arrived in Beijing by the minibus that picked them up at the hotel door. The owner of a bar in Sanlitun, Beijing’s entertainment hub, complains that local police will decide whether the daily whistleblower can deliver drinks, food or the loudspeaker.
Uncertainty and boredom
Uncertainty, some arbitrariness and boredom dampened popular enthusiasm for a policy that kept the country safe from global deaths and recessions. The Chinese are far from considering their vicious stubbornness and alienation to science and reason, as is often presented in the West, but doubts arise. Two events widened the opposition. First shanghai Drama, a fudge It stems from the cosmopolitan urge of local authorities to downplay the Chinese formula and allow cases to pile up until they have no choice but to imprison 25 million people for almost three months. The second was 27 people who died in a bus accident in Guizhou. It was the connections of a positive person who was taken to isolation centers hundreds of kilometers away at night, and the message that the covid zero policy is killing more people than covid became popular on the networks.
opening on the horizon
When will Beijing retire him, that’s the million dollar question. Several Chinese and foreign scientific studies warn that the joyous opening suggested by Western voices will leave more than a million dead due to low vaccination of the elderly and the precarious rural healthcare network. But the policy is unsustainable in the medium term and Shanghai has already proven the failure of the third way. One thing is for sure, China has a big problem.
Many anticipate an opening after the upcoming Congress of the Chinese Communist Party with the same optimism they proclaim after the National People’s Congress, the Beijing Winter Olympics or the New Year holidays. No one knows when China entered the global normality of open borders, the absence of masks, and the death toll and ensuing indifference.