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On Sunday March 13, tens of thousands of Chinese residents were forced to remain confined to their homes and were prevented from leaving or going to another city. And for good reason, the number of positive cases for Covid-19 has exploded, the country recording its highest rate since the start of the pandemic.
Several cities in China put under glass
This Sunday, March 13, the Chinese health authorities imposed confinement on millions of people, sometimes even without warning them. What prompted them to submit the population to this obligation is the recording of the number of people infected in one day.
Indeed, according to CovidTracker, a tool that tracks the evolution of the epidemic around the world, more than 3,400 cases were reported this Sunday, double the previous day. In two years of epidemic, it is unfortunately a record, because it is the highest rate which was registered in one day. The decision was therefore made to confine neighborhoods one by one, starting with shops, schools, then businesses and restaurants. Entire cities were cordoned off, such as Shanghai, areas where residents could neither leave nor enter the city without a negative Covid-19 test dating back less than 48 hours.
In the south of the metropolis of Shenzhen, adjoining mainland China and Hong Kong, 17 million people have been confined while 66 new contaminations have been reported. Entire cities have been placed under bell jars due to an increase in outbreaks caused by the Delta and Omicron variants. This is the case of the city of Jilin, a province located in the northeast of China or Yanji.
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The “zero-covid” policy is debated
It was in this Asian country, China, that the epidemic began at the end of 2019. The Sars-Cov-2 coronavirus then spread to many countries around the world. In response, the Chinese health authorities apply the “zero Covid” policy, a policy through which no tolerance is accepted. Contrary to the philosophy of “living with the virus”, adopted by the majority of countries, the “zero Covid” strategy consists of stopping the circulation of the virus by applying radical rules.
In response to the appearance of new patients, China confines locally, screens massively or decides to close its borders immediately. However, this way of doing things remains controversial, especially when peaks like the one reached this Sunday are reached. Moreover, resource management experts also agree that they undermine the good economic organization of the country.
On the other hand, the population seems to be tired of these rather drastic and unpredictable measures.