Ahead of the Communist Party Congress, China’s official media published an editorial on Wednesday, its fourth this week, promising to never “lie flat” about virus restrictions. This was a clear indication that the country will continue to adhere to its stringent zero-COVID-19 policy.
The message smashes widely held expectations among the Chinese people and foreign observers that the policy would be loosened after the congress, a twice-decade political upheaval that starts on Sunday and will provide the groundwork for the growth of the nation.
The final major economy currently battling COVID-19 within its borders is China, which is doing so with a number of draconian tactics including travel bans, mass testing, and instant lockdowns.
These have reduced the number of cases, but they have also strengthened the nation’s isolation from the rest of the world and left its economy in ruins.
The People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official organ, asserted on Wednesday that “laying flat has no way out,” using a colloquialism for relaxation that is well-liked among young Chinese people.
It said that removing limitations will put China’s healthcare system beyond repair and cause the virus to evolve further.
Since early September, China is presently experiencing its worst national spike in cases.
In late September, the nation reported its first instance of the BF.7 Omicron subvariant, which sparked a spiralling outbreak in Inner Mongolia’s northern area that has resulted in over 4,000 illnesses as of Wednesday.
This week, BF.7 was also discovered in Shenzhen, a significant manufacturing and technological centre in the southern province of Guangdong.
The editorial said that “the vaccination rate has not yet built an adequate barrier against serious disease and death.”
The reason we were so adamant on using dynamic zero-COVID-19 is that it allowed us to safeguard people’s lives and health as much as possible.
The People’s Daily reports that only 86% of senior Chinese have gotten two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, despite the fact that China has not licenced the more potent foreign mRNA vaccines.
The editorial in the People’s Daily builds on two other editorials this week on the same subject, depicting China’s quest for COVID-19 control as an existential conflict between its political system and the West.
In an editorial published on Tuesday, it stated that “the fight against the pandemic is a trial of material power as well as a battle of souls.”
On Tuesday, the piece was popular on the social media site Weibo, but online comments were prohibited.
On Tuesday, the official news outlet Xinhua published an editorial promising never to “lie flat.”
Officials have scrambled to contain breakouts around the nation in the days before the congress’s start on Sunday in Beijing, enacting additional lockdowns and restrictions in significant cities like Shanghai.
At the occasion, President Xi Jinping, whose political standing is based on the zero-COVID-19 policy, is anticipated to win an unprecedented third term.
