Covid-19 in China

[Randy W]

Shanghai Ikea shoppers scramble for the exits during flash Covid shutdown

Shoppers at an Ikea store in Shanghai made a dash for the exits during a flash Covid shutdown.

from the SCMP on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/817470859260744/

 

[Randy W]

Shenzhen #Metro has currently suspended operation at the following 28 stations:

from Shenzhen Pages on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/shenzhenpages/posts/pfbid02f8BYPSYmC3bf6vmhmHLxdmR4UKvmyhyFRAW9byLKdzZwkbtgkVPk9wVhT9HERKk5l

 

[Randy W]

Shenzhen shuts down world’s largest electronics wholesale market due to Covid-19 outbreak

China’s southern technology hub of Shenzhen shut down Huaqiangbei district, home to the world’s largest electronics wholesale market, to contain a fresh Covid-19 outbreak.

from the SCMP on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/3420124218210649/

[Randy W]

China locks down 21 million people in Chengdu as COVID-19 cases rise
The mega-city of Chengdu recorded 157 new local infections on Thursday as it becomes the largest since Shanghai was sealed off by authorities.

from Al Jazeera

Residents line up for testing following the coronavirus disease outbreak in Chengdu in Sichuan province [Reuters]

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Photos of empty supermarket shelves and Chengdu residents scrambling to hoard groceries went viral on social media with the order given only six hours before taking effect.

 . . .

All residents will be tested for the virus by Sunday, and it urged them not to leave the city unless “absolutely necessary”.

“The current state of epidemic control is abnormal, complex and grim,” the announcement said, adding the measures aimed to “decisively arrest the spread of the outbreak and guarantee the health of all citizens”.

Chengdu recorded 157 new local infections on Thursday, of which 51 displayed no symptoms, the city government said in a separate notice.

 

 

Edited September 2, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

“An older resident at Huaguoyuan Area 1 hasn’t eaten anything for three days,” read a screenshot from messaging app WeChat posted on microblogging platform Weibo. “Please help to spread the word out or send some food.”

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/pfbid0X8owqZnPdD7R6EZ52ioQ6AN3nPV8yYo1jb7ZnvdMbjwY7NquAzUmCFovm7oGTxG9l

Guiyang Lockdown Makes a Supersized Community Go Hungry
Residents at Huaguoyuan Community say they are running out of food amid COVID-19 restrictions.

Residents line up for COVID-19 test at Huaguoyuan Community in Guiyang, Guizhou province, Sept. 2, 2022. VCG

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Such restrictions have often resulted in the disruption of supply chains, hindering logistics and deliveries of daily essentials. On Wednesday, Guiyang’s pandemic control committee apologized to Huaguoyuan residents, pledging to improve distribution and resolve food shortage issues.

Located in downtown Nanming District, Huaguoyuan claims to be China’s largest urban village redevelopment project and has a total construction area of 18.3 million square meters. The compound has become Guiyang’s major tourism landmark, featuring a shopping mall resembling the White House and hundreds of high-rise buildings.

The lockdown in Huaguoyuan has drawn the ire of users on social media, with many sympathizing with residents and criticizing the local government’s food distribution plan. A related hashtag on Weibo has been viewed over 12 million times as of Thursday afternoon.

“This is surreal. We live in 2022 and yet there are people starving in provincial capital cities like Guiyang,” commented a Weibo user surnamed Lin under a local media report.

 

 

 

[Randy W]

“In their precarious existence filled with lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing, the Chinese public puts up a show, 24/7, for an audience of one: the country’s top leader, Xi Jinping,” our columnist writes.

from the NY Times on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/nytimes/posts/pfbid0ZsvvtZMKn5pgHoGFktYxFjKd6gBdw39yhh3HVHfARf58ssbWUYhWRpm6MvVLkH3Bl

China’s Public Puts on a Show of Zero Covid for an Audience of One
Because of Xi Jinping’s unrelenting policy, the Chinese people put up with a precarious existence filled with lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing.

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As fire was raging in the mountains surrounding the southwestern Chinese metropolis of Chongqing, 10 million residents stood in 100-plus-degree heat to get Covid tests. Two cases were detected that day in August.

A week earlier in Xiamen, in the country’s southeast, pandemic workers swabbed the throats of fishermen before they tested their catch of fish and crab. Cars got swabbed, too, at an auto show last week in Chengdu, in the southwest.

When a strong earthquake struck Chengdu on Monday, the first instinct of many residents was not to run for safety but to ask for permission to leave their homes under lockdown. “Don’t come downstairs! @all,” a property manager warned in a group chat. In Luding County, the epicenter of the earthquake, which killed at least 86 people, the local government told residents to make sure they got tested every day.

As much of the world tries to move on from the pandemic, the Chinese Communist Party clings to it, turning its zero-Covid policy into a political campaign that mandates the participation of 1.4 billion people.

 . . .

Some people play their roles with enthusiasm, others with indifference or resentment. No matter what, the Kafkaesque show must go on until Mr. Xi says, “Stop.”

The zero-Covid campaign is probably the clearest testament to the power of Mr. Xi, who proved that he is as capable of mobilizing the masses as Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic of China, who launched the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.

 

 

 

[Randy W]

 

#Guangdong province reported 5 new locally transmitted confirmed #COVID-19 cases yesterday (4 in Shenzhen, 1 in Jiangmen), and 4 asymptomatic cases (1 in Shenzhen, 3 in Dongguan).

from Shenzhen Pages on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/shenzhenpages/posts/pfbid0EruoB2NCHLULn6iyaSNnDe69UNRsWfgA5Nyw5uqr5wiefqigwBu21Q43zqkqRR2il

 

 

 

Edited September 15, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

‘At the Breaking Point’: Tibetans, Under Lockdown, Make Rare Cries for Help
China’s ever-tightening Covid rules have prompted public complaints from residents of areas usually intimidated into keeping quiet.

A socially distanced line, background, of people waiting for Covid tests in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.Credit...Visual China Group, via Getty Images

from the NY Times
or use this free sharable link - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/world/asia/tibet-covid-lockdown.html?unlocked_article_code=_5LvnWrixENVZJQBEd2KYw0YyWuvcFrHuo_H7XnMmap51fqdveRPWSJLm5DSDvLoDEM2nWpo-yHHPBPyveX-WsZWop0pKAEIv9Cpfpx0kfSFejRrTh-CmFZZ6oizQ5EfFR9seDgD5lBuE9mtzkA1DUb2r1DxDOyic949PHx3eaHR07GHzRd1zxRH6zLT8tmpw2vlx-Flz6kVOvN08OlYp5cmaxVbPvtkZJ3EKQiiO-DQONYZiwc0ylxEj8bs5HCzf4_EptkQ7eWsRJtyu69C1knrI8JqfxULhcVSbhl61HPwMYiKmd0z8NoUznTJauBwoLwQMr8qImgb_T-lWVDilr0&smid=share-url

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Infected patients quarantined alongside those who tested negative. No food for hours, despite repeated requests. Lines of buses, loaded with people, waiting late into the night to drop them off at makeshift isolation centers.

These are the scenes described by residents of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, who have been locked down for one month as officials try to contain a coronavirus outbreak.

Lockdowns, including of entire cities, have become almost commonplace in China, which remains bent on eliminating the coronavirus even as the rest of the world tries to live with it. But the recent calls for help out of Tibet, as well as Xinjiang — two border regions where the Chinese government has put in place highly repressive controls — speak to how desperate conditions have become there, where many residents are usually intimidated into keeping quiet.

Yet the incentive for the authorities to hold fast and silence discontent is also stronger than usual. The Chinese Communist Party is slated to hold a major political meeting next month, where its leader, Xi Jinping, is almost certain to extend his tenure. In the run-up, it is crucial for officials to ensure that the effort to achieve “zero Covid,” which Mr. Xi has declared a personal priority, appears smooth and successful.

The result is a vicious cycle. The authorities enact ever-harsher quarantine and censorship rules. Those, in turn, create more hardships and dissatisfaction.

“The social media posts you see from people in Lhasa are all about suffering, but that’s the real Lhasa. Lhasa’s public announcements, I feel they’re all fake,” said a food delivery worker in the city who gave only his surname, Min, for fear of official retaliation.

 

 

[Randy W]

All’s Not Well at Shanghai’s Tianzifang Tourist Hotspot

Falling tourist numbers following lockdown have resulted in losses for many merchants in the once thriving shopping alleyways.

Read more: http://ow.ly/SgPU50KIIi2

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/photos/a.1604152706570250/3323214991330671

All’s Not Well at Shanghai’s Tianzifang Tourist Hotspot
Falling tourist numbers following lockdown have resulted in losses for many merchants in the once thriving shopping alleyways.

A view of Tianzifang, Shanghai, 2020. VCG

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Nestled in the city’s former French Concession area, Tianzifang houses hundreds of arts and crafts stores, souvenir shops, and eateries, mostly opened by small business entrepreneurs. The labyrinthine alleyways in between the historic Shikumen-style buildings and souvenir shops present a slice of old Shanghai, attracting thousands of shoppers and selfie-takers.

But today’s Tianzifang paints a different picture — it’s a snapshot of the city’s post-lockdown recovery. Three months since Shanghai lifted its COVID-19 restrictions on June 1, its scars are still visible in places like Tianzifang, as shuttered shops and reduced traffic remind visitors and business owners of the lockdown’s economic toll.

 

 

[Randy W]

People stuck on quarantine bus for 7 hours in China

A group of people wearing personal protective equipment was stuck on a quarantine bus in China for seven hours as they were being transferred to an isolation centre in a different county.

from the SCMP on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/791314305346331/

 

[Randy W]

Don't let C-Milk fool you here - it IS about COVID restrictions

It's Insane in China Right Now!

 

[Randy W]

Chinese tourists return to Shanghai for first ‘golden week’ holiday since Covid rules eased

China is observing its National Day “golden week” holiday, traditionally a peak travel season that starts on October 1.

from the SCMP on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/1263273501096856/

 

Edited October 3, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Xinjiang restricts outbound travel as officials admit to Covid-19 mistakes

China’s Xinjiang autonomous region has suspended all passenger trains leaving the region in a bid to stop the spread of Covid-19.

from the SCMP on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/scmp/videos/615227446739025/

 

 

Edited October 5, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

China gives clearest sign yet it will stick with zero-Covid strategy

• Public had expected shift away from stringent Covid-19 measures after 20th party congress
• However, People’s Daily commentary signals leaders are determined to continue pandemic controls after pivotal political meeting this month

China is under pressure to abandon its zero-Covid strategy as the country’s economy faces a slowdown. Photo: AFP
 

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According to Tuesday’s commentary, China’s dynamic zero-Covid approach has balanced pandemic control with economic and social development, allowing China to achieve “extremely low” mortality and “smooth” social and economic functioning.

 . . .

State news agency Xinhua also joined the chorus on Tuesday and called for the country to “build resilience and stamina” and not to “lie flat” – a term Chinese officials and media use for coexisting with the virus.

 . . .

The recent National Day holiday, traditionally a week-long spending and travel spree, saw trips drop 18 per cent from a year earlier and 39 per cent compared to 2019 levels. Tourism revenues fell 26 per cent from the same period last year and totalled less than half of those earned in 2019.

 

 

[Randy W]

What can happen when you travel in China

This is the airport in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province in southwest China. On the afternoon of Oct. 4, the government suddenly issued a notice announcing that no one would be allowed to leave the city starting at 2 p.m. The official terminology was complicated, avoiding the term “city lockdown,” but in reality, it was a de facto city closure. The lightning speed of the closure left some 1,500 tourists stranded at the airport. These tourists from out of town were shocked to find themselves surrounded by men in white with guns. Before the local outbreak, both the central and local governments seemed to be hoping for a recovery of the tourism economy. Officials from the central government even helped Xishuangbanna with tourism promotion in mid-September. They made the stray herd of elephants that escaped from Xishuangbanna in 2021 into international friendship ambassadors and did a lot of publicity in the media. As Golden Week approached, Communist Party officials made a point of briefing the situation of the elephants who had returned to Xishuangbanna.