The Economist - UK (2022-04-09)

The Economist April 9th 2022 49

China

Covid-19

Shanghai swoons

T

he  effortto  stamp  out  covid­19  in
Shanghai has taken on the characteris­
tics  of  a  military  campaign.  The  army  has
published photos of planes offloading per­
sonnel and supplies. Tens of thousands of
medical workers have marched into the ci­
ty.  At  least  as  many  covid  patients  will  be
spirited  out—bused  to  field  hospitals  in
neighbouring  areas,  sometimes  hundreds
of  kilometres  away.  The  rest  of  the  city’s
25m residents will remain locked down as
the fight against the virus drags on.
For  two  years  China’s  business  and  fi­
nance  hub  remained  relatively  unscathed
by  covid.  Shanghai  was  evidence  of  the
government’s  skilful  handling  of  the  pan­
demic.  The  country’s  “zero­covid”  ap­
proach,  involving  mass  testing  and  strict
lockdowns to crush outbreaks, led to fewer
deaths and stronger economic growth than
in other big countries. Xi Jinping, the pres­
ident, has hailed the strategy as a great suc­
cess—and proof that China’s socialist sys­
tem is superior to Western democracy. 
But the situation in Shanghai is testing
all that. Not since the start of the pandem­
ic,  when  the  government  sealed  off  Wu­

han, a city of 11m people, have the country’s

covid measures come under such scrutiny.

The campaign in Shanghai has been noth­

ing  short  of  a  mess,  say  residents.  They

have faced varying restrictions since early

March  and  are  now  confined  to  their

homes. Food shortages are a problem. Peo­

ple  complain  of  going  without  medicine.

In  China’s  largest  city  the  government’s

strict covid controls are stoking anger. 

For  weeks  the  authorities  in  Shanghai

experimented  with  a  looser  approach.

They used targeted lockdowns on housing

compounds  to  contain  the  virus.  But  the

highly transmissible Omicron variant con­

tinued to spread. The government tried to

quash any talk of harsher measures in the

offing,  even  detaining  people  for  spread­

ing  rumours.  “We’re  not  going  to  use  the

lockdown  strategy  for  now,”  said  Zhang

Wenhong,  who  runs  Shanghai’s  covid  re­

sponse,  on  March  25th.  Three  days  later  a

two­phase lockdown was announced. First

the east side of the city was closed for four

days, then the west side. Even that proved

ineffective.  So,  as  the  staggered  lockdown

came to an end, the government closed the

entire city indefinitely.

Unsurprisingly,  the  authorities  were

unready to support people during the hast­

ily  conceived  lockdowns.  And  residents

themselves  were  given  little  time  to  pre­

pare.  Some  rushed  to  supermarkets,  leav­

ing  aisles  empty.  Getting  basic  provisions

has  become  a  struggle.  Messaging  boards

linked  to  Weibo,  a  popular  Twitter­like

platform, have been inundated with pleas

for help. One woman said her father, who is

suffering  from  cancer,  was  blocked  from

leaving  his  home  and  is  “considering  sui­

cide”.  A  man  sought  epilepsy  medication

for his young son; he “did not dare consid­

er the consequences” of failing to obtain it.

Videos show people fighting over boxes of

food. This correspondent has struggled to

obtain potable water.

Abandoned  warehouses,  expo  centres

and  shipping  containers  have  been  con­

verted into makeshift isolation centres for

those  who  test  positive.  Videos  show  pa­

tients protesting against a lack of food, wa­

ter  and treatment.  Health  workers  have

been  filmed  striking  people  or  pulling

them  by  their  hair  from  their  homes.  But

the  authorities’  most  controversial  policy

has  been  separating  covid­positive  chil­

S HANGHAI
A clumsy lockdown of China’s financial hub is testing the “zero-covid” strategy

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