UncategorizedBeijingChinaCOVID-19COVID-19 pandemicHealth Ignoring Experts, How China’s Sudden Zero-COVID Exit Proved Costly by Gabriel Martinez March 23, 2023 written by Gabriel Martinez March 23, 2023 0 comments Bookmark 66 In December, China decided to stop some of its anti-COVID precautions. Unfortunately, this led to an influx of new cases which overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums. In some places, it became so bad that families had to take their dead family members to warehouses for lack of space in the hospital. The Chinese government said that the choice to open up was done after a lot of thoughtful planning and not out of impulse. But actually, Big Big News has discovered that the Communist Party waited until it was too late to obey top medical experts when they suggested making plans on how to do this. During the winter when the virus was easily spread, schools suddenly decided to reopen. However, many older people were not given vaccines and hospitals didn’t have enough supplies or staff. This could have caused up to hundreds of thousands of avoidable deaths according to information from experts, government officials and internal reports. Zhang Zuo-Feng, a scientist from the University of California, Los Angeles said that “had we come up with an exit plan earlier, many people would not have died”. For two years, China had very strong rules to protect people from the virus. These rules helped save millions of lives while other countries were struggling with stopping and starting different lockdowns. However now, in late 2021, the omicron variant has become more infectious. Many doctors and officials in China have been worried that it is not possible to keep everyone safe anymore. At the end of 2021, China’s leaders started talking about how to lift their restrictions. In March of 2022, medical experts gave plans for taking off these restrictions to the highest level of government in China (State Council). In March, a sickness broke out in Shanghai. The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, then shut down the city. After that event, it became very important for the country to have zero cases of this virus, and the government didn’t allow people to talk about it outside the party line. In China, when the Shanghai coronavirus problem started to get better, it was close to a big political event called the 20th Party Congress. This made it tricky for the government to let people move around like normal. So they tried their best to keep the virus from spreading by testing lots of people and making them stay in different areas. Even though this was very strict, it still didn’t stop new cases from appearing. The people started protesting, causing riots in workplaces and closing down businesses. The situation was so serious that the authorities had to do something about it and quickly let the virus spread around the country without any prior warning or preparation, resulting in terrible consequences. Experts say that the number of people who have died in China due to the COVID virus is likely much higher than the official reported number, which is under 90,000. Some scientists believe that even more lives could have been saved if China had done a better job with vaccinations and stocking antiviral medicines. Research from the University of Hong Kong found that up to 300,000 deaths may have been prevented if these measures had been applied sooner. An official from China’s CDC said that it was a poor health decision to open up again so quickly, saying “It’s really bad timing. We weren’t ready for this opening yet.” Table of Contents Chinese Government Takes Control & Implements a Total Lockdown to Combat COVID-19Breaking the SilenceAn Overwhelming Fight Against OmicronWu Zunyou and Others Speak Out Against Beijing’s Overly Restrictive COVID RulesRapid U-Turn Chinese Government Takes Control & Implements a Total Lockdown to Combat COVID-19 At the end of 2021, experts and leaders started to think about how to end their zero-COVID policy. The virus omicron is less dangerous but it spreads much easier than COVID-19, making it hard to control. Plus, countries around us like Korea, Japan and Singapore were starting to relax their control measures. At the start of that winter, some public health experts were chosen by the State Council to form a special group with the job of thinking about how to stop COVID-19. In March 2022, this team gave the State Council a report all about it, which nobody has ever heard before. The Associated Press made this news public now. China recently published a report that proposes ways to help tackle the Coronavirus, like vaccine distribution, building extra beds in Intensive Care Units, buying medicine for Coronavirus patients and suggesting people with mild symptoms stay at home. They also suggested an experiment by easing restrictions in Hainan, an island in the South of China. At first, everything seemed okay. But then problems started happening. In Hong Kong, there was a dangerous illness spread rapidly and it made people in Beijing very worried. Later in March, the virus also spread to Shanghai, which is an important city for business in China. At first, Shanghai started slowly by only locking down certain buildings – a plan created by Doctor Zhang Wenhong who kept asking the government to start opening the city again. But soon, other provinces noticed that people from Shanghai were getting sick and asked their national leaders to close-down Shanghai entirely. Documents from China show that the virus started appearing in another province close to Shanghai by early March. This other province did not have all the medical help and technology like Shanghai had, so it was harder for them to track and stop the virus from spreading all over the country. Recently, in China, the number of people getting vaccinated is going down and there are some reported deaths in Hong Kong. In addition, there was news about the long-term impact of COVID-19 from other countries. The government in Shanghai was not able to stop the virus from spreading so the top leadership took control and announced partial lockdowns on late March. Then, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan (known as the “COVID czar”) went there to enforce a total lockdown on April 2nd. An expert in contact with China’s health officials said they didn’t have enough courage. Shanghai was not ready for the situation and people complained online about not having enough food and supplies. But the Chinese government stated that the lockdown should be kept in place anyway. The People’s Daily (an official newspaper) wrote an article explaining this, saying “We need to completely stop COVID-19.” Finally, President Xi Jinping suggested that if they stay persistent, it would lead to success. Breaking the Silence When Shanghai went into lockdown, public health experts in China didn’t say anything publicly about getting out of it. This was because they were not allowed to speak against the policy that had been put in place by Xi Jinping. Some of these experts were even stopped from appearing on Chinese media, as one person told the Associated Press. The “blacklisted” expert said that anyone who didn’t agree with the official story was punished and not allowed to talk about it. At the start of April, the Chinese government posted a letter from the European Chamber of Commerce online. The letter was asking the government to let up on their current rules that don’t allow any COVID cases at all. This was done to get people talking and debating, because the government wasn’t in a position to do it themselves. But when asked for comments, the State Council refused to answer. Gao Fu, who was the head of China’s CDC, said people should prepare for the end of whatever plans are in place. During a panel discussion from mid-April that was published by a Beijing-based think tank, Gao stated that “Omicron” was not all too dangerous and people were questioning if it needed to be adjusted. He added that they want to reach an agreement on this subject soon. At a gathering in the German Embassy in Beijing, Gao said that China should start to plan the reopening of their area. Three people who were there wouldn’t talk about it because they weren’t allowed to say anything to the press, and Gao didn’t answer a request for an interview either. It looked like opinion among high-ranking officials wasn’t the same on this matter. In May, the former Premier of China, Li Keqiang, showed understanding to businessmen’s worries about how zero-COVID policies were damaging their economy. This was unlike Chinese President Xi Jinping who claimed that beating COVID should be the top priority. However, analysts believed that Li had no power to make any changes as Xi is very powerful and demanding. Public health experts had different opinions about the idea of ‘zero-COVID’. Some people, like Gao and Zhang who worked in Shanghai, said it was impossible to achieve. But Liang Wannian disagreed – he thought it could help us fight the virus. Even though Liang is an epidemiologist (someone who studies diseases), some people accused him of following party orders instead of using science to make decisions. Ray Yip, who started the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) office in China said that Liang understands what their leader Xi Jinping wants to hear. Since January and May of 2022, Liang stopped suggestions to reopen places and is not answering any emails regarding this which makes it difficult for people wanting to arrange an exit plan. Health people knew that once China re-opened, there was no turning back. People were scared because there were lots of unknown information and the chance of getting new, dangerous strains of the COVID virus. The China CDC said, “Every day we received a lot of information without knowing if it was true or not and every week we heard about new kinds – so how can we end the zero-COVID situation?”. The people in charge took their time before starting a vaccine plan. They may have been waiting until the virus was weaker or until new vaccines from China were done. Zhu Hongshen, someone studying China’s attempt to stay safe from COVID-19, said that the people in charge didn’t feel like they needed to rush things. They thought they had enough time to do it perfectly. The planned eight-day lockdown in Shanghai ended up lasting two months. This was just a few months prior to an important event for China called the 20th Party Congress, where Xi Jinping (the leader of China) may be allowed to serve in office for another term – something that had never happened before. To avoid any potential spread of the virus, scientists from Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan were asked by the government not to discuss virus preparation until after the Congress was over. A medical expert (who wanted to remain anonymous) was saying that everyone is really excited for the upcoming party congress. But they’re also being really cautious with their words and actions in order to not mess up anything. An Overwhelming Fight Against Omicron In China, people took extreme steps to fight against omicron. Tourists were stuck in hotels, merchants could not leave and people refused to go anywhere as they didn’t want to get lost away from their homes. In Inner Mongolia, there was a state-run factory where workers weren’t allowed to leave the building for weeks on end and had to stay living inside even though it meant being apart from their families. For over three months, people living in Xinjiang, China had to go through very strict lockdowns and were barely able to get food. On the other hand, in Tibet, thousands of people protested against the government orders by marching on the streets. Despite that, authorities still held firm with their decisions and punished those who couldn’t stop the virus from spreading even further. To make matters worse, when an important Congress was approaching, officials concealed cases and used secret quarantines for containment. The city of Zhengzhou, where over 10 million people live, was put on lockdown without any official announcement, even though there were only a few cases reported. Beijing residents had to be taken away in buses to far-away quarantine centers, and were asked not to tell anyone about it online. Some village officials kept the number of COVID-19 cases smaller than it actually was so that it may seem like the virus had been contained. Local governments spent billions of dollars to set up places for testing and quarantining people. Because these governments didn’t have enough money, they asked civil servants like police officers to help with the testing and quarantining. At a meeting in October, six people who agreed with the leader Xi Jinping stood on stage beside him – showing that he was in control of the party. Wu Zunyou and Others Speak Out Against Beijing’s Overly Restrictive COVID Rules After the Congress meeting was done, public health people finally spoke out. The published document on October 28th obtained by Big Big News and reported here for the first time said that Wu Zunyou, a chief epidemiologist at China’s CDC criticized Beijing’s government for overdoing their COVID restrictions without any proof to back it up. He said it was distorting the central government’s way of handling the virus which could cause many people to be angry and frustrated. At the same time, Wu said that the rules made by the government regarding the virus were “right”. However, an earlier staffer at the CDC remarked that Wu felt helpless because he had to tell people in public to follow those rules even though he disagreed with them in private. When asked for comments on this, Wu didn’t reply. But someone who knows him confirmed that Wu wrote the mentioned internal report. One of the people speaking up was Zhong Nanshan, a famous doctor known for warning people about the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan. He wrote two letters to Xi Jinping telling him that it wasn’t possible to have no cases of COVID-19 and asking him to open back up gradually. Also, business leaders in finance, manufacturing, and trade sectors were trying to persuade authorities secretly because the economy had started going down. People in different parts of the country asked for places to be reopened because the virus was getting worse. A notice from a government organization said the situation was really bad on November 5th. In early November, China’s top leader for the coronavirus pandemic brought together many experts from different areas like healthcare and travel to discuss changing some of Beijing’s virus rules. A famous doctor presented research from Hong Kong that showed a very low number of deaths due to the virus in their last outbreak. After this, the country’s highest leader decided to make some adjustments in response. Chinese President Xi Jinping recently said that officials should continue to be careful and follow science-based plans for preventing and controlling the virus. The following day, some rules were adjusted such as different risk levels being set and quarantines not being required for as long of a period. However, Mr. Xi still stated that safety measures should remain in place with no exceptions. Rapid U-Turn The government wanted to be in control, but what it did instead caused confusion. Local officials weren’t sure if they should lock down or open up, and their policies were constantly changing. In Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province, restrictions were lifted, then immediately put back into place after only a few days. The leader, Xi Jinping reportedly told the city authorities that whatever they do must not be too severe nor too lenient. People living inside certain apartments were all of a sudden not allowed to leave, this could last for several hours or even days. Many tests had to be done and too many people were getting sick which made it hard for the doctors to keep up. No one was able to go out shopping, eating in restaurants, or travelling anymore – the streets were empty and the wealthy started buying airplane tickets out of China. November was a month of public anger. A tragic fire in Xinjiang led to an outburst of nationwide protests, with some people even demanding Xi Jinping – China’s leader – to step down. This was the biggest challenge to the Communist Party since the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations. The police had to intervene and stop these protests, but behind the scenes something was changing. The Chinese government stopped talking about reaching “zero-COVID”. State newswire Xinhua said that people are feeling really tired, fearful and stressed out because of this virus, plus the cost of trying to control it is getting higher each day. After the protests were over, Sun held some meetings and told people that the state wanted to try getting back to normal quickly. Some of those who heard this got a little shocked as they felt these plans were far more extreme than what the experts had suggested. On December 1st, President Xi met with Charles Michel from Europe and said that the protests came about because young people didn’t like being stuck in lockdowns. Xi told Michel that they were listening closely to their people. Unexpectedly, the final decision was made without much help from medical experts. The government advisor said they weren’t expecting this unexpected change in direction. Many people in the Chinese government believed that the protests could have been what caused Xi to take away all virus control measures. On December 6th, President Xi told officials to make changes about the COVID-19 situation. Then, the very next day, health authorities declared 10 new rules that basically got rid of virus tests requirements and other safety precautions. Everyone was shocked by how quickly these decisions had been made. Someone said they wished they had more warning before the virus became really bad. It all happened too fast. Suddenly, a lot of people got sick and there weren’t enough hospital beds for them. Medicine that was supposed to protect from COVID-19 was sold illegally for lots of money. In less than two months, about 80% of China was infected by the virus, which means more than 1 billion people. Deaths started to rise, but China’s government told their media not to say anything negative about how quickly they opened up again. They said that the media should push out propaganda to fight against the untrue claims from people in the U.S and other western countries who said they were forced to open or weren’t prepared. Kanis Leung, who is a reporter located in Hong Kong, helped out with the report. You Might Be Interested In Members of Congress Making their Case: Inside the Debate on TikTok’s Reach to Voters Research Highlights Climate Change’s Role in Recent Global Heat Waves India’s Lunar Rover Concludes Its Surface Expedition; Data Under Scrutiny for Evidence of Ice Water Will Abortion Bans Cause a Backlash Against the GOP Come 2024? The Role of a US Meat Broker in Contributing to Deforestation in the Amazon North Korea Unresponsive to US Attempts to Discuss American Soldier’s Border Crossing BeijingChinaCOVID-19COVID-19 pandemicHealth Share 0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail Gabriel Martinez Follow Author Gabriel Martinez is a science and technology journalist who covers the latest news and developments in the world of science. 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