• According to official data, since the start of the pandemic China has only reported about 5,000 deaths from the virus. • During all this time, the health policy has consisted of imposing extremely strict confinements every time a single case is detected in a locality, even if it has millions of inhabitants. • When restrictions are relaxed, numerous cyber-surveillance techniques are used and PCR tests are required all the time for leaving the residential neighborhood. • China has developed its own vaccines, Sinovac and Sinopharm, at the same time that it has prevented the importation of Western vaccines due to Beijing's protectionist trade policy. Western vaccines are more effective than Chinese ones, so a high vaccination rate in that country does not provide a strong health security against the spread of any covid variant. • The new Omicron variant is much more transmissible, and due to the fact that the Chinese population has not developed herd immunity, cases of contagion have exploded in recent weeks, while the number of deaths is expected to do the same any time soon. • Due to this panic and the authoritarianism that prevails in China, the current lockdown has being especially harsh. These rules apply to the entire population, so the distributors of essential supplies have also suspended work activities. • Some effects of these measures have resulted in a severe lack of food in supermarkets, the separation of children from their parents when a case is detected within the family, and even killing some pets belonging to families with covid cases. • This situation has led the population of the big cities to organize small riots, especially in Shanghai, where the situation is very critical at the moment. Western powers have strongly advised people not to travel to China at this time due to the draconian measures of the Communist Party. The Chinese authorities have responded by saying that these countries have nothing to criticize China considering the difference in reported deaths when comparing both pandemic management models.
https://www.scmp.com/video/coronavirus/3174152/shanghai-neighbours-scream-unison-release-lockdown-st
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