China defends Covid zero for turning around worst outbreak

Bloomberg: China says the current outbreak of Covid-19 is coming under control with cases in Shanghai showing signs of turning around, as officials defend the nation’s strict Covid Zero strategy as still the best against the pandemic.

The unwavering adherence to its zero tolerance approach has led to the effective control of the outbreak in the northeastern province of Jilin and initial success in curbing omicron’s spread in Shanghai, where the strategy underwent “its most severe test,” Li Bin, the deputy director of China’s National Health Commission, said in Beijing.

Shanghai reported a slight uptick in infections for the first time in six days, though the broad trend continues downward a month into a lockdown that at its peak saw most of the city’s 25 million residents confined to their homes. Now, just a fifth of the population remain unable to leave their homes.

The number of infections found in the community dropped to 108 on Thursday from 250 a week ago, according to the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission. China generally requires community spread to reach zero before it considers an outbreak contained.

Jilin, the center of an earlier outbreak, continues to gradually lift restrictions for its 24 million people, with infections no longer detected outside of quarantine facilities. A smaller outbreak in Beijing also shows signs of being under control with a mass-testing drive not yet finding signs of broad community spread.

The capital reported 34 local cases in the 24 hours ended 3 p.m. on Friday. The district of Chaoyang has shut cinemas, galleries and museums while a third round of mass testing is underway. Officials urged residents not to travel outside Beijing or gather during the upcoming Labor Day holiday, while everyone will need to have a negative PCR test result within 48 hours in order to return to work after the break.

At the briefing in Beijing, senior health officials credited the moderating outbreak to the Covid Zero strategy, which has come under sustained criticism from the tens of millions of people under lockdown who have struggled to access basic necessities like foods and healthcare, and further strained global supply chains.

Yet officials admit the Covid Zero strategy, largely abandoned by earlier proponents such as Australia, New Zealand and Singapore in the global pivot to learning to live with the virus, needs to be adjusted to keep up with omicron’s greater transmissibility and to minimize the social and economic fallout.