China: More new infections than in two years - is the "zero Covid strategy" reaching its limits?

Created: 07/03/2022, 16:16

By: Sven Hauberg

A patient in a makeshift waiting area in front of the Caritas Medical Center in Hong Kong: The pandemic is putting a strain on the health system in Hong Kong.

© Vincent Yu/AP/dpa

The corona numbers continue to rise in China, and the situation in Hong Kong is already out of control.

Beijing still wants to stick to the zero-Covid strategy.

Munich/Beijing/Hong Kong – On Saturday, China's* political leadership patted itself on the back.

The Chinese corona policy is "effective", local outbreaks were "quickly" brought under control, said Prime Minister Li Keqiang* at the annual meeting of the National People's Congress* in Beijing.

A high vaccination rate of 85 percent and the tough measures against the pandemic have "ensured people's health and safety and maintained normal order in work and life."

Just two days later, however, the Chinese National Health Commission reported the highest corona numbers in two years.

On Sunday (March 6th) there were 327 new infections.

113 of these are imported cases, 214 local infections, it said.

There are also 312 asymptomatic cases that are shown separately in the Chinese statistics.

So there were no deaths.

It is the highest number of cases since China managed to control the corona cases after the outbreak in the city of Wuhan in mid-2020.

China: Corona pandemic slows down economic growth

China is pursuing a zero-tolerance approach to the corona pandemic* and is taking radical action in local outbreaks.

Individual cases are enough to seal off entire neighborhoods and test thousands of people for the virus.

People entering China from abroad must be quarantined for at least two weeks.

Despite everything, China wants to stick to its zero-Covid strategy.

"The way is right and the results are good," said spokesman for the National People's Congress Zhang Yesui last Friday.

“Every preventive and control measure is associated with certain costs.

However, these are worthwhile compared to the protection of people's lives and health."

Li Keqiang's speech on Saturday showed what Zhang meant by "certain costs": The Chinese economy will grow by 5.5 percent in the current year, said the Prime Minister.

It would be less than it has been for 30 years.

In addition to the uncertain global situation and the Chinese real estate crisis, Li also cited the corona pandemic as the reason for the cautious forecast.

In 2021, Chinese economic growth was still more than eight percent.

China's foreign trade also lost momentum in the first two months of this year.

It grew by only 15.5 percent - four percentage points less than in December 2021.

Corona pandemic: Almost 500,000 infections in Hong Kong

In view of this data, experts are raising doubts as to whether China can stick to its zero strategy in the long term, especially since there seems to be no exit plan.

Added to this is the apparently low effectiveness of the Chinese vaccines* against the omicron variant, which dominates the world.

However, natural immunity to the virus cannot develop in the population due to the stricter lockdowns.

China reported the highest number of infections on Monday from the north-east of the country and from the southern province of Guangdong*.

With 126 million people, the most populous Chinese province borders directly on the city of Hong Kong*, which has been struggling with the uncontrolled spread of the virus* for weeks.

On Monday, Hong Kong, with its 7.5 million inhabitants, counted more than 25,000 new cases.

A total of almost 500,000 infections have been reported since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Corona pandemic: Extremely high mortality in Hong Kong

On Monday, the city administration released a new online platform on which citizens can report the results of positive rapid corona tests.

This should help to identify cases early, isolate infected people quickly and thus "slow down the spread of the virus in the community," said Edwin Tsui Lok-kin of the Center for Health Protection of the local newspaper

.

The aim is also to “obtain more comprehensive and up-to-date information about the current disease situation in Hong Kong”.

Empty noodle shelves in a Hong Kong supermarket: the population stocked up on groceries for fear of a lockdown.

© Vincent Yu/AP/dpa

The high number of infections is a massive burden on Hong Kong's health system.

This is also due to the low rate of third-party vaccinations.

While approximately 90 percent of the city's population received a single dose, only 78 percent received a second dose and just 30 percent received a third dose*.

Older people in particular are not vaccinated, which is currently causing a relatively high mortality rate.

161 deaths were reported within 24 hours on Monday.

According to the authorities, 126 of the deceased were not vaccinated.

147 were older than 65. Only one of the fatalities received three doses of vaccine.

Hong Kong is currently one of the regions with the highest corona death rates in the world.

Hong Kong: Development "tragic but to be expected"

The development in Hong Kong was "tragic but to be expected," wrote virologist Siddharth Sridhar from Hong Kong University on Twitter.

The low vaccination rate among the elderly, low infection rates during previous corona waves and "an overburdened health care system" would "create a perfect storm," said Sridhar.

"In Hong Kong we have almost exactly the same conditions as in the cities that were struggling with Covid in 2020."

The government in the former British crown colony is reacting to the development of the numbers with strict quarantine measures.

All infected people are isolated in the hospital or special quarantine facilities, which has been criticized as disproportionate by parts of the population.

For fear of the draconian measures, infections are repeatedly concealed from the authorities.

The Federal Foreign Office has recently warned that children who have tested positive can be separated from their parents.

Hong Kong: Nine-day lockdown in March?

Last week, the

reported the government was planning a nine-day lockdown in mid-March after mass city-wide testing.

Every citizen of Hong Kong should be tested three times.

What the lockdown could look like is still unclear.

Grocery stores are expected to remain open.

The reports have not yet been officially confirmed.

Due to the dramatic corona situation, more and more foreigners are leaving the city, as the director of the German Chamber of Commerce (AHK) in Hong Kong, Wolfgang Ehmann, told the AFP news agency.

According to Ehmann, the government's "communication strategy, which many perceive to be inadequate", "partly empty supermarket shelves" and the "imminent lockdown" would "drive many to flee".

Meanwhile, the Beijing government sent experts to Hong Kong to help the local government get the situation under control.

-