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CNN
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2022 is supposed to be a successful year for China and its leader Xi Jinpinglike him the beginning of the second decade in power with a pledge to restore the nation to greatness.
Instead, China has had its toughest year under Xi’s rule, reeling from his costly no-covid policy – from month excessive coercion destroyed the economy and caused historical discontent among the public, to the point that wholesale so sudden that it left a fragile health system struggling to cope with an explosion of cases.
The chaos and confusion stand in stark contrast to earlier in the year, when Beijing demonstrated the success of its containment measures by preventing much of the coronavirus from entering the world. Winter Olympic Games.
In the space of a year, Xi Jinping’s striking pandemic policy has turned from a source of legitimacy for the ruling Communist Party into a spiraling crisis that threatens to undermine it.
Is one unprecedented wave of infection – and death – sweeping across the country, many have questioned why, after making so many sacrifices in the Covid-free conditions and waiting so long to reopen, the government ended up letting the virus infiltrate people people without any prior warning or preparation.
As 2022 draws to a close, CNN looks back at five key events of the year about China’s Covid-free policy.
China reports fewer Covid deaths since the elimination of Covid-19. CNN is seeing a different story
The game proved to be a resounding success for China’s Covid-free strategy.
In it is tightly sealed, meticulously managed Olympic Balloons, popular masks, endless disinfectant sprays and rigorous daily testing have paid off. Any infected travelers to the country are identified quickly and their cases are contained, allowing the Winter Olympics to go on virtually free. Covid even as the Omicron variant raged around the world.
This success has added to the party’s narrative that its political system is superior to the political systems of Western democracies in handling the pandemic – a message Mr. in preparation for a third term in power.
It also reinforces China’s belief that its well-honed handbook of blockade, isolation, mass testing and contact tracing can build an effective defense against Omicrons. highly contagious and prevent its spread. Before the Olympics, these measures worked in January to tame the country’s first outbreak of Omicron in Tianjin, a port city near Beijing.
But it didn’t take long for Omicron to seep through the crack of zero-Covid. In mid-March, China fought with worst covid outbreak Since the first wave of the pandemic, thousands of new cases are reported every day, from Jilin province in the north to Guangdong in the south.
Shanghai’s financial hub quickly became the focus. Local officials initially denied a city-wide lockdown was necessary, but then imposed it after the city reported 3,500 daily infections.
The two-month lock has become a clear symbol of the economic and social costs of zero-Covid. In the country’s wealthiest and most glamorous city, residents face widespread food shortages, a lack of urgent medical care, Spartan-style makeshift quarantine facilities, and forced labor. home disinfection. The draconian measures have sparked a wave of outcry, severely eroding public confidence in the Shanghai government.
The lockdown is also wreaking havoc on the economy. China’s GDP down 2.6% for the three months ending in June, while the youth unemployment rate soared record high almost 20%.
But the costly blockade has not caused China to change its zero-tolerance approach. Instead, officials hailed it as a victory in the fight against Covid. Other local governments have learned that they must limit the infection at all costs, before the outbreak gets out of control.
As the party’s crucial national congress approaches, the pressure only grows.
Tied herself tight to zero-Covid, Xi stuck in a trap of my own making. He can’t afford to stay away from it, the potential for increased infections and deaths that could pose too great a risk to his administration before he secures his rule-breaking third term in office. Congress.
And so, instead of vaccinating the elderly and ramping up the capacity of the ICU, authorities wasted the next crucial months building larger quarantine facilities, rolling out testing every day. more frequent series and imposed broader lockdowns, which at one point affected more than 300 million people.
But even the strictest measures have failed to tame the spread of Omicron. By October, China was again reporting thousands of infections daily. Amid growing public frustration, the People’s Daily, the party’s main mouthpiece, insisted being free of Covid was “sustainable” and the country’s “best choice”.
At the opening of the congress, Mr. Xi broadly endorsed his Covid policy, saying it “prioritizes the people and their lives above all else”. He scored a great political victorysecure a third term and align the top ranks of the party with loyal allies – including those who have faithfully implemented his Covid policies.
The officials suggested and became more enthusiastic than ever in enforcing the Covid-free rule, dashing hopes that the country could open up after the congress.
As restrictions tightened, more suffering and tragedy emerged from the relentless shutdowns.
migrant workers abandoned a Foxconn factory under mass blockade, walking for miles to escape the outbreak at China’s largest iPhone assembly site. One 3 year old boy died gas poisoning in a locked state after he was stopped to be taken to the hospital immediately. A 4-month-old girl died in the hotel’s isolation ward after 12 hours of delayed medical care.
Then, at the end of November, a deadly apartment fire in the western city of Urumqi finally sparked a public outrage that had been simmering for months. Many believe the lockdown measures have hampered rescue efforts, despite official denials.
Protest broke out nationwide, on a scale not seen in decades. On university campuses and the streets of major cities, crowds gathered to call for an end to the ongoing Covid tests and closures, with some censors disparaging and demand greater political freedom.
In Shanghai, protesters even demanded Mr. Xi’s resignation – an act of political defiance unthinkable to the country’s most powerful and authoritarian leader in decades.
The nationwide protests pose an unprecedented challenge to Xi. At the time, Omicron seemed to have spiraled out of control, with the country recording a record more than 40,000 daily infections and economic stress becoming too severe, with local authorities. out of cash to pay the huge blockade bills.
In an apparent attempt to appease protestersSome cities are beginning to relax restrictions.
Then, on December 7, the central government announced a drastic overhaul on how to approach, push back the lockdown, test and allow residents to isolate at home – effectively eliminating Covid.
Since then, state media and health officials have shifted from preaching the dangers of the virus to downplaying its threat.
While the easing of stifling restrictions is a long-awaited relief For many, its abruptness and confusion caught the unprepared public off guard and left them to fend for themselves.
Over-the-counter cold and fever medicines – which are restricted to purchase in the absence of Covid – sold out immediately in pharmacies and online shopping sites. Long lines had formed outside fever clinics and hospital emergency rooms filled with patients, many elderly. Crematoriums are struggling to keep up with the flow of bodies.
CNN report: The world’s harshest quarantine is no more
Amid the turmoil, the government has stopped reporting the majority of the country’s Covid cases and narrowed its criteria for counting Covid deaths in a way the World Health Organization warned would “underestimate”. actual number of deaths”.
While that move has spooked the public, it’s also hard to ignore the political factors.
For nearly three years, China’s low number of Covid-19 infections and deaths relative to countries like the United States has been taken as a measure of the party’s merit and legitimacy.
Now, the true scale of the outbreak and the number of deaths could deal a serious blow to the credibility of a government that has justified painful restrictions for years on the grounds that they are necessary to save lives.
Several studies have estimated that China’s sudden and ill-prepared reopening could lead to nearly a million people died – close to the number of deaths from Covid in the US.
As China enters its third – and darkest – winter of the pandemic, zero-Covid is finally dead, but the consequences of its demise will haunt the country for the next year.
