Beijing is still committed to COVID zero despite economic and human costs
Chinaโs health chief has reiterated support for the nationโs controversial pandemic policy, while local governments and people chafe under lockdown measures.
The market may be eager to jump on any sign that China is planning a gradual exit from COVID zero, but Beijing has signaled that the country wonโt pivot from its pandemic policy anytime soon.
โWe must resolutely maintain the general approach of โpreventing imported cases and domestic resurgenceโ and the overall strategy of โdynamic COVID zero,โโ the director of Chinaโs National Health Commission, Mว Xiวowฤi ้ฉฌๆไผ, said in a statement per Bloomberg.
- Stocks slid back down, after being buoyed up by rumors that the nation was planning an exit to COVID zero.
- The news adds more volatility to the market, which yesterday had received a boost after Chinese authorities approved a new, inhalable COVID vaccine from CanSino Biologics.
With no sign of an exit, a growing number of municipalities are shifting the cost of COVID tests to citizens, charging a small fee usually between 3 yuan ($0.41) to 16 yuan ($2) a pop, as cash-strapped local governments continue to be squeezed by unabating testing mandates.
- Cities in at least seven provinces, including Gansu, Guizhou, Hunan, Sichuan, and Guangdong, have rolled out charges for PCR tests since November, local media outlet Yicai reported on Wednesday.
- However, those working in at-risk jobs will be exempted from the charges and still be provided with free testing.
Meanwhile, the death of a three-year-old boy from a suspected gas leak has sparked another wave of public outcry on Chinese social media over the COVID-zero policy, after the buildingโs lockdown measures delayed treatment that could have saved his life.
- The boyโs father told the BBC that he could not get his son out of their residential compound in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu Province, for over an hour. The area has been under lockdown since the beginning of October.
- โThree years of pandemic was his entire life,โ said one popular comment on Weibo.
- Lanzhou officials vowed to improve emergency medical responses under COVID zero, stating that they had been โrigid and bureaucraticโ and โlacked strong crisis management skillsโ in a Thursday statement on WeChat, per Bloomberg.
- โWe will always uphold the principles of people-first and life-first in our work from here onward,โ the statement added.
