Coronavirus Outbreak in China After Reopening Began
By Eve Yang
China has managed to keep their covid cases fairly low until just last month when they declared that they would be reopening their borders and abandoning their zero-COVID policy. Consequently, China’s coronavirus cases have increased drastically, and it is unclear how this coronavirus outbreak will impact the people of China and their economy.
Zero Covid Policy in China
While the rest of the world was opening up after two years of Covid-imposed lockdowns, China was closing down its borders and local businesses to limit the transmission of the coronavirus in their provinces. Although the Chinese government understood that it was impossible to avoid all coronavirus outbreaks, they wanted to decrease the occurrences of such outbreaks at all costs.
To achieve this, China utilized two primary strategies: containment and prevention. Containment involved extreme measures of quarantine for up to fourteen days in which people who contracted or came into close, distant, or even potential contact with the disease were obliged to stay at home.
To supplement these containment efforts, China closed its borders to most visitors with very few exceptions. Even as people were slowly allowed to enter China, the Embassy of the China required that potential passengers get samples for the rt-PCR and antibody tests prior to their flight. Once they received their results they were required to apply for a health code from the Chinese Embassy or Consulate General before finally being able to board their flight. If any of these tests returned positive, the passengers would not be allowed on the flight.
For prevention measures, residents in China were also required to systematically take a PCR test, and their results were logged on government databases. The Chinese government even created a COVID profile that was tracked on each resident's phone. If the profile bars displayed anything abnormal (such as testing positive for COVID or being in close contact with someone with COVID), residents were unable to access public venues or transportation and were potentially subjected to days of home quarantine.
The government kept close track of these profiles and would change them accordingly if, for example, someone’s relative had contracted COVID or if the someone had been in close contact at a store with someone who tested positive (This level of monitoring was made possible through surveillance cameras throughout).
Recent Relaxation on Strict Zero Covid Policy
On December 7, 20222, the Chinese government unexpectedly ended most of the Zero COVID control policies that they enforced for the past three years since the first globally recognized COVID outbreak in Wuhan China. Some have speculated that this sudden change may have been caused by the rare protests that occurred late November last year.
Since then, virus testing requirements and health code checks for domestic travel are no longer required along with a multitude of other zero COVID policies. However, this relaxation has far from benefitted most of the residents in China as coronavirus cases have risen dramatically since.
Dramatic Increase in CoronaVirus Cases in China
The reported new coronavirus cases curve had been fairly flat since May 23, 2022, but has since taken a turn uphill as coronavirus infections surge in local areas, especially in the capital of Beijing, China.
Miceal Hart, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, reported that within a week of China’s policy change, more than 60% of one company based in Beijing had tested positive for COVID. To add to that, the Chinese government’s top health authority estimated that on a single day in the third week of December, nearly 37 million people in China may have been infected with COVID-19.
Undoubtedly, the surge in cases was not limited only to Beijing as the large industrial province near Shanghai, Zhejiang was also flooded with coronavirus cases in the past month. According to a recent report from the provincial government of China, the province had reached a million new COVID-19 infections daily and that the number was likely to double if the situation in China continues.
Out of the 65.4 million people in the Zhejiang province, 13,583 people are receiving treatment in the hospitals of Zhejiang. One patient has been reported to have had severe symptoms of COVID (contrary to the mild symptoms the Omicron variant was initially thought to have), and 242 infections that were similar in severity but were caused by underlying diseases.
Overall, it is unclear exactly how many COVID cases have arisen in China as the National Health Commision ceased to report asymptomatic infections which deterred the accurate tracking of cases.
Effects on Economy
Since the removal of a majority of the Zero COVID Policies, rather than using that opportunity to escape their homes and return to normal life, millions of people in China have remained indoors and isolated themselves from others.
The sudden COVID surges have rendered shops and restaurants empty. As the virus rapidly spreads among the people of China, many companies and factories have been forced to close or limit production due to a shortage of workers.
The traffic on a Friday morning rush in major cities Shanghai and Shenzhen was lighter than it had been even when COVID restrictions were in place. The Wind Information, the leading financial data provider in China, adds that in major cities, the frequency of subway riders has decreased significantly since the COVID restrictions were removed. People have voluntarily socially distanced themselves and remained in their homes. Analysts from Capital Economics suggest that this decrease in consumer activity will likely affect the economy’s demand.
In November 2022, a survey conducted by the Chinese government showed an increase of unemployment rate to a six month high from 5.5% to 5.7%. This number will likely increase as demand for workers and products decreases with the lack of consumer activity due to the surging COVID cases and voluntary lockdown by the citizens of China.
The overall numbers for China’s economy have not looked good. The Chinese financial data provider Wind reported that in a week in December, home sales plummeted 44% in the 30 biggest cities in comparison to the same week of last year. Additionally, car sales have also taken a hit as from December 1 to December 18, overall sales decreased 15% compared to the same time last year. In fact, China’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, BYD, stated that many workers were unable to work due to the COVID surge.
Vice President of BYD (a Chinese conglomerate manufacturing company that specializes in electric vehicles), Lian Yubo remarked at a forum in Shenzhen that, “The COVID outbreak has severely impacted our production. 20 to 30 percent of our employees are sick at home.” But BYD is not alone as the forced shut down of many factories have also caused slowed or no production at all.
Why now?
Evidently, the sudden removal of coronavirus prevention measures and precautions are a primary cause for the COVID surges throughout China. So, it is seemingly unbelievable that a country that had been isolated and closed for so long while other countries returned to normal life would decide to abruptly remove all restrictive policies and COVID precautions.
The Zero Covid Policy had been an effort by China to limit the deaths and sickness that many other countries had suffered. According to government estimates, their strategy managed to avoid one million deaths and 50 million illnesses in contrast to nations such as the US which suffered over one million deaths early in the pandemic.
Consequently, China’s policies have enabled its economy to grow while other large economies crumpled. So then why has China suddenly decided to reverse all their efforts by abandoning their policies?
Top health officials in Beijing cited the spread of the somewhat milder Omicron form, the vaccination rate, and China’s level of experience in combating the virus as justification for China’s sudden change in policies. The protests that occurred in November may have also played a role in the Chinese government’s decision to reopen.
It is largely unclear how this abrupt act of reopening will impact China in the long term, but for now, it does not look as promising as the country had hoped.
Eve Yang is a junior at PESH (Plano East Senior High School), enrolled in the IB program (International Baccalaureate). She enjoys learning about current events occurring internationally and writing about topics that impact people around the world. She also enjoys learning languages which allows her to better communicate ideas and thoughts with others while discovering unique cultures, beliefs, and ideologies.