China is building hundreds of thousands of permanent coronavirus testing facilities and expanding quarantine centers in many of its largest cities as part of its Zero Covid policy, despite economic and human damage to the world’s most populous country.
Residents of Shanghai woke up on Thursday with a statement that blocking measures and mass tests would take place in the Minhang district, home to more than 2 million people, for at least two days. The directive came just a week after President Xi Jinping’s administration declared victory in protecting the city from the pandemic after a two-month blockade.
Strict restrictions in dozens of cities have brought the country to the brink of recession for only the second time in three decades. But while measures have been eased in many areas, experts believe the government’s virus infrastructure program is designed to support mass testing and quarantine policies until 2023.
Officials are vying to follow instructions so they can test the city’s entire population within 24 hours. Larger metropolises now have to have testing grounds no more than a 15-minute walk from residents’ homes, and temporary facilities are being replaced by permanent booths supplied by private medical companies.
The country’s 31 provinces and regions are also carrying out orders from Beijing to prepare new hospitals and quarantine facilities in the event of an increase in Shanghai-style infections.
Yangong Huang, a senior global health associate at the Foreign Affairs Council’s think tank, said such measures demonstrate Beijing’s commitment to zero Covid “despite this growing social and economic cost associated with this approach.”
“The government believes it can get ahead of the virus. But we know that for the Omicron variant this is not realistic. And for an even more portable version, that will make it even less feasible, “he said.
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As of April, China already has 400 makeshift hospitals completed or under construction with a capacity of more than 560,000 beds, according to public comments from National Health Commission officials. Authorities in cities with more than 10 million people have been told to have at least 1,500 hospital beds in centralized quarantine facilities, in addition to back-up centers that can be put into use with a few days’ notice.
“The capacity for admission and isolation should be further strengthened and certain hospitals. . . and centralized isolation points must be planned and prepared in advance, “wrote Ma Xiaowei, a senior NHC official in Qiushi, the Chinese Communist Party’s leading magazine last month.
In an example of rapid progress, Ningbo, a city 8 million south of Shanghai, opened its first centralized Covid-19 quarantine facility last month with 4,356 isolation rooms, including 200 for quarantine families and 880 staff rooms.
Most major Chinese cities have already introduced requirements for regular Covid tests, regardless of symptoms. The Beijing government is asking residents of the capital to show a negative Covid test in the previous 72 hours to travel freely, including on public transport.
Shanghai has set up about 15,000 test sites for its 26 million people, and Lanzhou, a northwestern city of 4 million people, has the capacity to test nearly 150,000 people a day.
Covid-19 test booths are being set up in cities across the country, including Shanghai © Bloomberg
China’s zero-Covid policy has been successful in limiting the Omicron variant and keeping deaths low compared to countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States. The daily number of cases is close to a three-month low with an average of about 150 in seven days, which is lower than the peak of about 30,000 in April.
But many are disappointed with the prospect of zero Covid’s policy being extended to a fourth year. “Covid’s zero policy is insane: it’s inhuman and not very successful,” said an art curator in Beijing. “The governments of Shanghai and Beijing are lying to people’s faces. In Shanghai, they said they would not lock up. . . then in the end it was 60 days, “the man added.
Eight cities in China and 74 million people are now under full or partial blockade, up from 133 million a week ago and 355 million in April, according to a study by Japan’s Nomura Bank.
Authorities are also devoting huge sums of money to implementing the Zero Covid policy, with some local authorities forced to divert funds from other priorities, such as poverty reduction and infrastructure.
The potential economic costs are significant. If each city accepts Beijing’s 72-hour test, 814 million people will have to be regularly rubbed at a cost of 1.7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, according to a Nomura analysis.
China has already canceled two major international events in recent weeks. Organizers at the Shanghai International Film Festival said this week that Friday’s opening event would be postponed to 2023. The announcement followed China’s decision last month to withdraw from hosting the Asian Cup football competition next year due to fears of Covid.
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Jane Duckett, director of the Scottish Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Glasgow, said mandatory regular testing consumes resources “that can be better used to improve vaccination rates among older and more vulnerable groups.”
But Andy Chen, an analyst at consulting firm Trivium China, said Beijing would reconsider its policy after Xi was confirmed for a third term as leader of the country later this year.
“These measures. . . are a response to the mismanagement of the recent outbreak in Shanghai, where targeted and precise measures to limit the early stage allowed the spread of Omicron to spiral out of control. “The goal of setting up regular test sites in big cities is to detect and catch infections early,” he said.
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But Huang was adamant that “this approach with zero Covid will be maintained, perhaps until 2023,” despite the lack of epidemiological benefits.
“This will not eradicate the virus,” he added. “New options continue to rise and spread. . .[and]when you seal the population from the virus, you also maintain the immunity gap between China and the rest of the world. “
Report by Arjun Neil Alim in Beijing, Edward White in Seoul and Andy Lynn in Hong Kong
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