China’s COVID-19 Situation: A ‘Disaster’

In the role of director of the “National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases”, Anthony Fauci has advised 7 U.S. presidents on stopping the spread of a variety of diseases. Over the last 2 years, amid the covid pandemic in our life. Fauci has become the public figure of the US’ coronavirus response strategy, describing rapidly changing developments and regulations in an enhancing polarized nation.

The country, China, where this virus was 1st detected in the late year 2019, has handled a strict ‘zero-Covid’ policy which was enforced by swift lockdowns, travel restrictions and a huge number of testing when clusters have emerged.

But the latest flare-up, given by the highly transmissible Omicron variant and a spike in asymptomatic cases, is testing the efficacy of that approach.

Zhang Yan, a Jilin health commission, conceded that the reaction from local authorities had been lacking.

“The emergency response mechanism in some areas is not robust enough,” he explained at a press briefing.

The danger in China now is that the “zero Covid” has become a Mao-style political campaign that is based on the will of 1 person, the country’s leader, Xi Jinping — and that it could end up hurting everyone.

In Shanghai, the nation’s largest and most affluent city, at least 8 mid-level officials were suspended from their positions after the city’s badly executed lockdowns caused chaos, tragedies, and food shortages.

We all hope that this situation gets better soon.