• =?UTF-8?Q?China_is_sticking_to_its_=E2=80=98zero_Covid=E2=80=99_policy=

    From David P.@21:1/5 to All on Mon Oct 17 00:06:46 2022
    China is sticking to its ‘zero Covid’ policy.
    By Alexandra Stevenson, Oct. 16, 2022, NY Times

    China’s leader, Xi Jinping, on Sunday dashed any hopes that the “zero Covid” policy — which attempts to eliminate coronavirus infections with costly lockdowns — would end in the coming months.

    Mr. Xi argued that the Communist Party had waged an “all out people’s war to stop the spread of the virus.” China’s leadership has done everything it can to protect people’s health, he said, putting “the people and their lives above all else.
    He made no mention of how the stringent measures were holding back economic growth and frustrating residents.

    Mr. Xi emphasized that “zero Covid” had saved lives. To abandon it, he seemed to suggest, would be to disregard human life.

    The message — delivered by Mr. Xi at the party congress — reinforced a flurry of recent propaganda published by the state media in the past week to counter mounting speculation that China might loosen its tough pandemic restrictions after the
    gathering.

    To the rest of the world, where more effective vaccines and treatment have lessened the death toll from Covid-19, China’s approach no longer makes sense.

    But China is still trying to contain the virus even as it becomes increasingly hard to do, guided by a prevailing thought that loosening up would be too dangerous for vulnerable citizens like the elderly and would overwhelm the country’s fragile
    hospital system.

    Mr. Xi on Sunday also repeated a common refrain that China has won international acclaim for its go-it-alone approach to Covid, bolstering its influence on the international stage.

    This claim was true early on in the pandemic, when China was lauded for using widespread lockdowns to stop the spread of the virus, said Yanzhong Huang, a global health expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. By 2021 the city of Wuhan, the epicenter
    of the new coronavirus just a year earlier, offered the rest of the world a glimpse of a post-pandemic world as residents went on with their lives while other countries were battling devastating outbreaks.

    But as a more infectious Omicron variant broke through China’s zero Covid fortress earlier this year, officials have had to enforce increasingly stringent measures to fulfill its ongoing goal to keeping the virus out. The approach has left China
    isolated from the world and taken a grim toll on its economy.

    “International reverence for Beijing’s Covid response approach has rapidly and significantly decreased, which has undermined China’s soft power, especially in the Western world,” said Mr. Huang.

    There is also growing evidence at home that people’s patience for China’s approach to fighting Covid is waning. A nationwide mass testing requirement that was supposed to ease the pressure is not working as officials have rushed to lock down more and
    more cities.

    Beyond the economy, experts have questioned how Mr. Xi will pivot away from a policy that has dominated the lives of 1.4 billion people for nearly three years.

    “There is nothing positive or aspirational about zero Covid,” said Jude Blanchette, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

    Instead, it’s a sword of Damocles that hangs over everyone’s head, Mr. Blanchette said, adding, “you know you’re just a few cases away from a lockdown.”

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/16/world/asia/china-is-sticking-to-its-zero-covid-policy.html

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    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From a a@21:1/5 to All on Mon Oct 17 02:51:02 2022
    #stopyourfake

    108 China 256,018 +245 5,226

    1 USA 98,842,668 +10,897 1,090,528 +70

    https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From stoney@21:1/5 to David P. on Mon Oct 17 11:06:52 2022
    On Monday, October 17, 2022 at 3:06:48 PM UTC+8, David P. wrote:
    China is sticking to its ‘zero Covid’ policy.
    By Alexandra Stevenson, Oct. 16, 2022, NY Times

    China’s leader, Xi Jinping, on Sunday dashed any hopes that the “zero Covid” policy — which attempts to eliminate coronavirus infections with costly lockdowns — would end in the coming months.

    Mr. Xi argued that the Communist Party had waged an “all out people’s war to stop the spread of the virus.” China’s leadership has done everything it can to protect people’s health, he said, putting “the people and their lives above all
    else.” He made no mention of how the stringent measures were holding back economic growth and frustrating residents.

    Mr. Xi emphasized that “zero Covid” had saved lives. To abandon it, he seemed to suggest, would be to disregard human life.

    The message — delivered by Mr. Xi at the party congress — reinforced a flurry of recent propaganda published by the state media in the past week to counter mounting speculation that China might loosen its tough pandemic restrictions after the
    gathering.

    To the rest of the world, where more effective vaccines and treatment have lessened the death toll from Covid-19, China’s approach no longer makes sense.

    But China is still trying to contain the virus even as it becomes increasingly hard to do, guided by a prevailing thought that loosening up would be too dangerous for vulnerable citizens like the elderly and would overwhelm the country’s fragile
    hospital system.

    Mr. Xi on Sunday also repeated a common refrain that China has won international acclaim for its go-it-alone approach to Covid, bolstering its influence on the international stage.

    This claim was true early on in the pandemic, when China was lauded for using widespread lockdowns to stop the spread of the virus, said Yanzhong Huang, a global health expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. By 2021 the city of Wuhan, the
    epicenter of the new coronavirus just a year earlier, offered the rest of the world a glimpse of a post-pandemic world as residents went on with their lives while other countries were battling devastating outbreaks.

    But as a more infectious Omicron variant broke through China’s zero Covid fortress earlier this year, officials have had to enforce increasingly stringent measures to fulfill its ongoing goal to keeping the virus out. The approach has left China
    isolated from the world and taken a grim toll on its economy.

    “International reverence for Beijing’s Covid response approach has rapidly and significantly decreased, which has undermined China’s soft power, especially in the Western world,” said Mr. Huang.

    There is also growing evidence at home that people’s patience for China’s approach to fighting Covid is waning. A nationwide mass testing requirement that was supposed to ease the pressure is not working as officials have rushed to lock down more
    and more cities.

    Beyond the economy, experts have questioned how Mr. Xi will pivot away from a policy that has dominated the lives of 1.4 billion people for nearly three years.

    “There is nothing positive or aspirational about zero Covid,” said Jude Blanchette, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

    Instead, it’s a sword of Damocles that hangs over everyone’s head, Mr. Blanchette said, adding, “you know you’re just a few cases away from a lockdown.”

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/16/world/asia/china-is-sticking-to-its-zero-covid-policy.html

    In the past 5 months, average infection per day in China between 340 and 800 cases. This is considered small in relative to the population. But in many cases, most were reinfection cases. Hence, tightening of infection and reinfection is maintained to
    prevent spreading. However, this small number of case should not need too tight on testing, control and quarantine, too. This is because the economy has dipped and lockdowns also. Hence, there should be some measures for China to identify areas where
    testing is not needed and not lockdown, too.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From a a@21:1/5 to stoney on Mon Oct 17 14:08:56 2022
    On Monday, 17 October 2022 at 20:06:54 UTC+2, stoney wrote:
    On Monday, October 17, 2022 at 3:06:48 PM UTC+8, David P. wrote:
    China is sticking to its ‘zero Covid’ policy.
    By Alexandra Stevenson, Oct. 16, 2022, NY Times

    China’s leader, Xi Jinping, on Sunday dashed any hopes that the “zero Covid” policy — which attempts to eliminate coronavirus infections with costly lockdowns — would end in the coming months.

    Mr. Xi argued that the Communist Party had waged an “all out people’s war to stop the spread of the virus.” China’s leadership has done everything it can to protect people’s health, he said, putting “the people and their lives above all
    else.” He made no mention of how the stringent measures were holding back economic growth and frustrating residents.

    Mr. Xi emphasized that “zero Covid” had saved lives. To abandon it, he seemed to suggest, would be to disregard human life.

    The message — delivered by Mr. Xi at the party congress — reinforced a flurry of recent propaganda published by the state media in the past week to counter mounting speculation that China might loosen its tough pandemic restrictions after the
    gathering.

    To the rest of the world, where more effective vaccines and treatment have lessened the death toll from Covid-19, China’s approach no longer makes sense.

    But China is still trying to contain the virus even as it becomes increasingly hard to do, guided by a prevailing thought that loosening up would be too dangerous for vulnerable citizens like the elderly and would overwhelm the country’s fragile
    hospital system.

    Mr. Xi on Sunday also repeated a common refrain that China has won international acclaim for its go-it-alone approach to Covid, bolstering its influence on the international stage.

    This claim was true early on in the pandemic, when China was lauded for using widespread lockdowns to stop the spread of the virus, said Yanzhong Huang, a global health expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. By 2021 the city of Wuhan, the
    epicenter of the new coronavirus just a year earlier, offered the rest of the world a glimpse of a post-pandemic world as residents went on with their lives while other countries were battling devastating outbreaks.

    But as a more infectious Omicron variant broke through China’s zero Covid fortress earlier this year, officials have had to enforce increasingly stringent measures to fulfill its ongoing goal to keeping the virus out. The approach has left China
    isolated from the world and taken a grim toll on its economy.

    “International reverence for Beijing’s Covid response approach has rapidly and significantly decreased, which has undermined China’s soft power, especially in the Western world,” said Mr. Huang.

    There is also growing evidence at home that people’s patience for China’s approach to fighting Covid is waning. A nationwide mass testing requirement that was supposed to ease the pressure is not working as officials have rushed to lock down more
    and more cities.

    Beyond the economy, experts have questioned how Mr. Xi will pivot away from a policy that has dominated the lives of 1.4 billion people for nearly three years.

    “There is nothing positive or aspirational about zero Covid,” said Jude Blanchette, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

    Instead, it’s a sword of Damocles that hangs over everyone’s head, Mr. Blanchette said, adding, “you know you’re just a few cases away from a lockdown.”

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/16/world/asia/china-is-sticking-to-its-zero-covid-policy.html
    In the past 5 months, average infection per day in China between 340 and 800 cases. This is considered small in relative to the population. But in many cases, most were reinfection cases. Hence, tightening of infection and reinfection is maintained to
    prevent spreading. However, this small number of case should not need too tight on testing, control and quarantine, too. This is because the economy has dipped and lockdowns also. Hence, there should be some measures for China to identify areas where
    testing is not needed and not lockdown, too.
    COVID-19 pandemy is finally closed, as annopunced by Head of WHO
    Early March 2020 I suggested Tedros to announce global pandemy, since I got trained in Wuhan in covid prevention, diagnosis, treatment, as one of few from Europe.
    In March 2020 I joined courses by WHO Geneva in COVID prevention and microbiology since other relevant have not been offered.

    Since global covid-19 pandemy is over we go back to work as 3 years earlier in covid-free world

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From ltlee1@21:1/5 to David P. on Mon Oct 17 15:10:55 2022
    On Monday, October 17, 2022 at 7:06:48 AM UTC, David P. wrote:
    China is sticking to its ‘zero Covid’ policy.
    By Alexandra Stevenson, Oct. 16, 2022, NY Times

    China’s leader, Xi Jinping, on Sunday dashed any hopes that the “zero Covid” policy — which attempts to eliminate coronavirus infections with costly lockdowns — would end in the coming months.

    Mr. Xi argued that the Communist Party had waged an “all out people’s war to stop the spread of the virus.” China’s leadership has done everything it can to protect people’s health, he said, putting “the people and their lives above all
    else.” He made no mention of how the stringent measures were holding back economic growth and frustrating residents.

    Mr. Xi emphasized that “zero Covid” had saved lives. To abandon it, he seemed to suggest, would be to disregard human life.

    The message — delivered by Mr. Xi at the party congress — reinforced a flurry of recent propaganda published by the state media in the past week to counter mounting speculation that China might loosen its tough pandemic restrictions after the
    gathering.

    To the rest of the world, where more effective vaccines and treatment have lessened the death toll from Covid-19, China’s approach no longer makes sense.

    But China is still trying to contain the virus even as it becomes increasingly hard to do, guided by a prevailing thought that loosening up would be too dangerous for vulnerable citizens like the elderly and would overwhelm the country’s fragile
    hospital system.

    Mr. Xi on Sunday also repeated a common refrain that China has won international acclaim for its go-it-alone approach to Covid, bolstering its influence on the international stage.

    This claim was true early on in the pandemic, when China was lauded for using widespread lockdowns to stop the spread of the virus, said Yanzhong Huang, a global health expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. By 2021 the city of Wuhan, the
    epicenter of the new coronavirus just a year earlier, offered the rest of the world a glimpse of a post-pandemic world as residents went on with their lives while other countries were battling devastating outbreaks.

    But as a more infectious Omicron variant broke through China’s zero Covid fortress earlier this year, officials have had to enforce increasingly stringent measures to fulfill its ongoing goal to keeping the virus out. The approach has left China
    isolated from the world and taken a grim toll on its economy.

    “International reverence for Beijing’s Covid response approach has rapidly and significantly decreased, which has undermined China’s soft power, especially in the Western world,” said Mr. Huang.

    There is also growing evidence at home that people’s patience for China’s approach to fighting Covid is waning. A nationwide mass testing requirement that was supposed to ease the pressure is not working as officials have rushed to lock down more
    and more cities.

    Beyond the economy, experts have questioned how Mr. Xi will pivot away from a policy that has dominated the lives of 1.4 billion people for nearly three years.

    “There is nothing positive or aspirational about zero Covid,” said Jude Blanchette, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

    Instead, it’s a sword of Damocles that hangs over everyone’s head, Mr. Blanchette said, adding, “you know you’re just a few cases away from a lockdown.”

    To be an analyst/expert, he or she must be able to think objectively. For instance, Mr. Blanchette could get the statistics on how many Chinese had been under what kind of locked down for how long under what viral and medical facility environment. With
    the information, he would be in position to discuss meaningfully on whether the Chinese policy is reasonable or not according to what criteria.

    He threw out "you know you're just a few cases away from a lockdown" as if this is some kind of truth.
    But can he really answer question the truthfully: If I were somewhere in China, I am how many cases from a lockdown?

    In case he could not readily answer this kind of questions, Mr. Blanchette is just another apparently not well informed "China" expert.
    Too lazy to think and too eager to demonize China.

    Again, it is a waste of time to read NYTimes to learn more about China. For Americans who don't trust the NYTimes on American news, I certainly understand their point of view.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/16/world/asia/china-is-sticking-to-its-zero-covid-policy.html

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    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)