Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/isolate...der-the-strain-of-keeping-covid-out-1.1674300
Isolated China Is Cracking Under the Strain of Keeping Covid Out
Bloomberg News
13h ago
Bloomberg) --
China has been able to beat back successive waves of Covid-19 thanks to the widespread deployment of snap lockdowns, strict quarantines and some of the world’s tightest border controls. Yet, the strain is showing at its borders.
Case in point is Ruili, a city in remote southwestern China that is hemmed in by a 169 kilometer (105 mile) border with Myanmar on three sides.
The city, which thrives on cross-border trade, has sent its 268,000 people into lockdown four times in the past seven months alone. Retailers and restaurants have gone out of business. Locals are largely barred from leaving, and the area is languishing amid restrictions designed to find and extinguish as they spill across the national border and spread.
The toll on its people and economy has been so severe -- with little payoff in terms of eliminating the pathogen -- that some are speaking out.
“Extended lockdowns have sent the city into an impasse,” said Dai Rongli, Ruili’s former deputy mayor, making an emotional plea on his personal social media account on Thursday. “It urgently needs to resume production and essential businesses. The government should learn its lessons in balancing the big picture with the local situation as well as people’s livelihoods and Covid control.”
China’s Toll
The rare outburst -- in a country where most people acquiesce to the government and local leaders have been removed for failing to control the virus -- underscores the toll being extracted by China’s approach almost two years into the pandemic. Beijing has held fast to the strategy -- which relies on constant vigilance and wiping out all traces of the virus -- even as the pressure to protect jobs, mental health and economic growth forced other so-called Covid Zero countries from Singapore to Australia to open up.
The sacrifices made by residents of Ruili have done little to keep the virus at bay, as successive waves of Covid hit one after another since March. There have been more than 1,500 cases so far this year in the broader Yunnan province, with most in the Ruili region. The problem is Myanmar, where the virus is rife due to containment challenges amid political turmoil...
Isolated China Is Cracking Under the Strain of Keeping Covid Out
Bloomberg News
13h ago
Bloomberg) --
China has been able to beat back successive waves of Covid-19 thanks to the widespread deployment of snap lockdowns, strict quarantines and some of the world’s tightest border controls. Yet, the strain is showing at its borders.
Case in point is Ruili, a city in remote southwestern China that is hemmed in by a 169 kilometer (105 mile) border with Myanmar on three sides.
The city, which thrives on cross-border trade, has sent its 268,000 people into lockdown four times in the past seven months alone. Retailers and restaurants have gone out of business. Locals are largely barred from leaving, and the area is languishing amid restrictions designed to find and extinguish as they spill across the national border and spread.
The toll on its people and economy has been so severe -- with little payoff in terms of eliminating the pathogen -- that some are speaking out.
“Extended lockdowns have sent the city into an impasse,” said Dai Rongli, Ruili’s former deputy mayor, making an emotional plea on his personal social media account on Thursday. “It urgently needs to resume production and essential businesses. The government should learn its lessons in balancing the big picture with the local situation as well as people’s livelihoods and Covid control.”
China’s Toll
The rare outburst -- in a country where most people acquiesce to the government and local leaders have been removed for failing to control the virus -- underscores the toll being extracted by China’s approach almost two years into the pandemic. Beijing has held fast to the strategy -- which relies on constant vigilance and wiping out all traces of the virus -- even as the pressure to protect jobs, mental health and economic growth forced other so-called Covid Zero countries from Singapore to Australia to open up.
The sacrifices made by residents of Ruili have done little to keep the virus at bay, as successive waves of Covid hit one after another since March. There have been more than 1,500 cases so far this year in the broader Yunnan province, with most in the Ruili region. The problem is Myanmar, where the virus is rife due to containment challenges amid political turmoil...
