It’s more than a month, and China once again put out Covid-19, bringing local cases to zero.
The more difficult this time, even though the populous country leaders in the world use the same guidebook they follow to extinguish more than 30 previous flares. The arrival of more contagious Delta variants has raised its stakes, because these pathogens purify their ability to escape the sidewalk and vaccination. It is not clear how long it will last long.
The Chinese model shows what is needed to get Covid under control, and raises questions about whether other countries will be willing – or able – to follow the same Drakon steps.
This is what happened between July 20, when the news emerged from a group of infections among the airport cleaning staff in the eastern city of Nanjing, and August 23, when China returned to Covid Zero.
Repeat bulk testing from all cities
China took testing to an unprecedented level during this round. The local authority examined their population repeatedly, a dozen times in one city, to ensure that every infection was last captured. Overall, more than 100 million tests were given. In Yangzhou city, some people are infected while waiting in line to play.
Quarantine also plays a bigger role. The capital of China in Beijing at one point is closed from another place with even one case. It also cuts trains and flights from hotspots throughout the country, even though the city was finally posted less than 10 infections in Delta Flarup.
Other areas introduce sweeping sidewalks, from restrictions on entries for people from high-risk areas to ask them to cut short holidays. Most must remain isolated at home – rules that are strictly enforced – before returning to work and school. More than 200 environments are labeled high or medium risk, triggering sweeping sidewalks that interfere with life and business.
Peak and plunge
First of all there is one asymptomatic infection at the airport in Nanjing. The next day, there are more than a dozen. At the end of the week in July, daily infections have risen to almost 50, indicating exponential deployment in more than 1,000 kilometers. In less than three weeks, the case of everyday balun to more than 100, spread in half the country. Then it ends, almost as fast as it starts. The number of infections goes down to one digit next week in the middle knocking the sidewalk, then zero. More testing will show whether it has been defeated.
The spread of blazing from Delta variants throughout the country is the biggest test of the Covid China control model. In the end it penetrated nearly 50 cities in 17 provinces and reintroducing the virus to Wuhan, which was free of Covid for more than a year.
However, China removes viruses in about a month, approximately the same time needed to extinguish the previous outbreak including one in early 2021 which numbered around 2,000 cases. In comparison, cities in Australia have undergone repeat locking, keeping more than half of 26 million countries is limited to their homes, without getting control of the virus. At M., which has never succeeded in detention, relying instead of vaccination, Booster Shots are scheduled to be launched next month to support the protection against the resurrection of Delta.
So far China has kept all her infected patients still alive. In the Jiangsu Provincial Virus Hotspot, critical cases at one point rose as many as 18, raising fear that the country could see its first Covid death in more than six months. But many have shown signs of moderation and disease recovery.
Economic setback
The focus of containment at all costs is weighing in the second largest economy in the world. Consumption and manufacturing slowed down in July, with an expected additional weakness for August when infections reached their peak and measures to control them intensified. The investment banks of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. at Nomura Holdings Inc. cut their growth projections.
Covid Zero vs coexistence
The most infectious variants and rampant propagation are making the global eradication of Covid-19 less likely. That realization is driving decisions in Australian countries to Singapore to learn to live with the virus after they previously sought to eliminate it.
However, China has demonstrated its ability to keep the Bay of Pathogen, and is committed to continuing, regardless of effort or spending. The Minister of Health, Ma Xiaowei, told the Xinhua State News Agency on August 16 that the authorities planned even stricter measures aimed at detecting raids from the foreigner virus more quickly.
The Minister of Health also reiterated that the Covid containment provides a more stable environment for economic development and investment.
With the delta variant that is swurned worldwide, making the immunity of the herds an impossibility, China is isolated in its zero tolerance approach. The threats from the exterior will continue. Some new cases were reported in the last days in places like Shanghai, instead of at the most recent sprout access points.
It is clear that China can seal the virus. The question remains how long it can be kept against the rest of the world.