China faces its largest outbreak of COVID-19 cases in a month, complicating his preparations for an important Communist Party meeting in which Xi Jinping is expected to expand his authority and claim another term. Provincial and local officials have promised to prevent the spread of the coronavirus from “spreading” to Beijing, the capital, where the meeting will take place.

COVID-19 daily counts have more than doubled in the past week, to about 1,400 cases on Friday, in a country of 1.4 billion people, still a small figure by world standards. But the Chinese authorities are under enormous pressure so that nothing disrupts the party’s congress, which will begin on October 16.

They responded by increasing the restrictions that many already consider excessive. They are blocking regions and cities and demanding mass testing and quarantine, disrupting the lives of millions of people and generating public protests.

The authorities adhere to their policy of “COVID zero” elimination of infections, despite the enormous economic and social cost of the strategy. Xi has made “COVID zero” a political imperative, linking support for politics with support for the Communist Party, while trying to hail China’s success in curbing infections as a sign of the superiority of Beijing’s authoritarian establishment.

It is politics

China’s pandemic strategy is “Almost a political campaign to show loyalty to Xi Jinping himself”said Willy Lam, an associate professor of politics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “This makes local officials even more anxious because everyone wants to remain in the good graces of Xi Jinping.”

COVID-19 infections have increased in part due to the country’s National Day holiday week, which began on October 1. Despite requests from health officials to restrict travel, many have flocked to tourist spots. They are now blocked after flights and trains were canceled.

closures they punished residents of less developed regions. Shortages of food and medicine were common in those areas, prompting residents to turn to social media with complaints and requests for help.

The fast-spreading omicron variant has consistently escaped China’s strict restrictions. Xinjiang officials they were forced to admit flaws in their approach it has led to cases that have spread from the region to other provinces and major cities, including Beijing.

Liu Sushe, vice president of the Xinjiang region, admitted this week that the area of ​​22 million people is facing the most difficult public health emergency in its history. He said some officials have been negligent in their jobs, failing to properly implement measures to quell infections.

Liu said that measures, such as mandatory mass testing, they may also have contributed to the spread of the virusas some healthcare workers who did not use adequate protection were infected.

On Tuesday, Xinjiang effectively banned residents and visitors from leaving, banned all trains and buses from leaving the region, and stopped most flights. But such blockages could lead to more problems.

the defects

Last month, residents of Yining, a city in Xinjiang, invaded social media platforms to demand food and other supplies, including sanitary pads and medicine, during a lengthy lockdown. The scarcity of daily needs, as well as the chaotic execution of attempts to stem the epidemic, they had already forced local officials to admit guilt.

Similar problems in other areas, notably Shanghai earlier this year and Tibet a few weeks ago, sparked anger at the human and economic cost of the crackdown.

In the southwestern province of Yunnan, travelers took to the Chinese social media site Weibo to express their anger at being stranded at Xishuangbanna airport after flights were canceled at short notice.

On Tuesday, health authorities in Xishuangbanna prefecture tightened restrictionswhich prevented most people from leaving.

In Inner Mongolia, COVID-19 cases rose to nearly 700 on Friday, the highest number among Chinese provinces. alone a handful of a week ago.

In a meeting chaired by Sun Shaocheng, the senior Inner Mongolia party official, officials were asked to stop infections by “killing chickens with a knife to slaughter cows,” a Chinese pun, to indicate that he wanted excessive slaughter.

“Act faster, prevent spread and overflow, especially in Beijing”, Reads an official reading. Since then, several cities and counties in the region have been blocked.

unusual anger

Excess is becoming more and more the norm. In the tropical island province of Hainan, often known as China’s Hawaii, authorities ordered mass testing later Only two cases were detected on Monday. The province recently emerged from the August blockade of the popular tourist city of Sanya, which has trapped tens of thousands of travelers.

Public anger at closures sometimes has skyrocketed to unusual levels, also last month after a bus carrying quarantined people crashed, killing 27 people in the southern city of Guiyang. On social media, debates have arisen over whether COVID-19 measures have caused more damage and disruption than the virus itself.

Officials struggled to finance and staff efforts to stop the virus. In many poorer areas, local government finances have become strained, mostly because they tried to impose massive tests, often in millions of people every few days.

“It’s just that some places have become so sold out,” said Dali Yang, professor of political science at the University of Chicago. “One of the big challenges is that all those people have been on the front lines for so long, incentives are starting to dwindle in some locations, some local authorities are running out of money.”

Giovanni Liu