Covid-19, how and why it got out of control in China

The number of infections and victims in the People’s Republic is for a long time infinite minor compared to that of many other countries, starting from the European ones and from United States. The Chinese rhetoric is based on eradicating the virus, not living with it. And at the beginning there are those who believe they should follow that example. It was born there zero covid strategy, which becomes not only a Covid-19 management policy, but also an ideological mission hand in glove with Xi Jinping’s leadership and with the claim to management superior to that of others. Its alleged effectiveness is being used as a response to those who criticize China on human rights issues. For the Party, having avoided high numbers of infections and victims of Covid-19 is equivalent to the best example of protecting the lives of Chinese citizens, therefore of human rights.

What we know about the new and worrying wave of Covid-19 in China

Here’s how the Chinese government is acting and what defense measures some countries have taken

June 1, 2021: the approval of the Chinese vaccine

In the second year of the pandemic, another piece is added to the Chinese anti-pandemic policy and narrative: the vaccine and aid to developing countries. On 1 June 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) validates the vaccine developed by Sinovac for use in an emergency. The Chinese company has signed purchase agreements for 380 million doses from Covax. As early as July 2021, CoronaVac becomes the most widely used Covid-19 vaccine in the world, with 943 million doses delivered to dozens of countries. In October 2021 it becomes that more administered.

The sending of vaccines around the world serves Beijing to strengthen its rhetoric of a “responsible power” that goes to the aid of the developing countries that they have less access to immunization and that big Western governments, in the Chinese narrative, are not helping enough. Several leaders around the world have themselves portrayed while being administered the Chinese vaccine: among them also the then president of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte.

Despite subsequent tests questioning the effectiveness of Chinese vaccines, especially among the older segment of the population, the Beijing government has never admitted the use of foreign vaccines. In the Party narrative, China has developed a system of containment and eradication of the virus superior to that of others, demonstrating that its political system works better than that of “declining democracies”. Self-sufficiency it is not only sought in technology, but also pandemic. And the doors for international vaccines remain closed for now.

Mandatory Covid-19 swabs for those arriving in Italy from China

Minister Schillaci signs the ordinance after the increase in cases of Covid-19 and the end of the restrictions in China. The tests to search for variants will be sequenced

April 2022: the Shanghai lockdown

The zero Covid strategy continues. Whenever few infections are recorded, entire Chinese neighborhoods or cities go in lockdown. This is accepted and understood for a long time, until at least also in the rest of the world the borders remain closed and various restrictions follow one another inside. Then comes the spring of 2022. The West gradually eliminates all restrictions, including those at borders, other Asian countries are also starting to join, starting with those in the South-East which are aiming to relaunch the economy and tourism.