Photographer: Hector Retamal / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Hector Retamal / AFP / Getty Images
A year after the blockade imposed on the Chinese city of Wuhan shocked the world, the tactic proves to be a lasting tool for suppressing the coronavirus almost everywhere.
When the first large-scale blockade of the modern era was implemented in China on January 23, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was then considered unproven and unimaginable, especially by democratic governments that have opposed the human rights violations of restricting the freedom of movement of citizens on such a large scale.
However, at almost 12 months, the UK is in the middle of the third country nationally blockage while battling a mutant strain of coronavirus. In Australia, the recent discovery of a case in Brisbane has led to a three-day period quarantine. And China, which is facing the largest outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic, with more than 500 cases, closed three cities around Beijing this month.
“Before COVID-19, there was a strong global health discourse that argued against similar blockages and mass quarantines. This is just an area of thinking that the current pandemic has been reversed, “said Nicholas Thomas, an associate professor of health security at the University of Hong Kong.
“As far as possible, blockages will become part of the set of essential tools that governments need to use to address current and future outbreaks,” he said.
War measures
The speed with which China blocked millions of people when the pandemic broke out marked the first time that the measure was taken on such a massive scale in modern times.
Until last year, severe blockades were synonymous with the bubonic plague waves that swept through fourteenth-century Europe. Even during the Spanish flu of the early twentieth century, no blockages were imposed at the central level. However, China has imposed three major blockages in recent history: one during an outbreak of bubonic plague in its northeast in 1901 and two short after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and another following an outbreak of bubonic plague in Gansu Province. in 2014.
Foreign countries that were stunned by the blockade of Wuhan woke up in the same way only a few months later, while the virus spread uncontrollably.
Once an infectious disease reaches a number of people, blockages cannot be avoided because no other measures can be spread, said Jiang Qingwu, a professor of epidemiology at Fudan University in Shanghai.
Although it is clear that there is still a big gap between what the Chinese government is able to impose on its citizens during a blockade compared to democratic countries. Increasingly in declaring what the government commonly calls “war” measures in response to a relatively small number of infections, local authorities have also ensured compliance through actions such as the total closure of residential complexes. In some cases, people are not allowed to leave to get food, with deliveries arranged in their place.
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According to the authors of a A study by Bloomberg Economics comparing the way in which democratic countries have dealt with the most authoritarian in dealing with the pandemic, “a quick and strict blockade is the kind of generous reaction that comes more naturally to authoritarian regimes than democratic regimes.”
In China’s latest blockade in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province, strict measures are reminiscent of the Wuhan blockade, which ended on April 8 after infections dropped to zero. Residents of the northeastern city, 290 kilometers southwest of Beijing, must stay home for seven days, while the city begins a second round of mass testing for the entire population of 11 million, as cases in the region exceed 500. Flights and trains to and from the city were stopped, as well as almost all means of public transport.
In contrast, democracies, such as the United Kingdom, in their blocking versions, have generally allowed people to leave home to purchase essentials such as food and medicine, to walk their dogs or to exercise. Schools remain open in France’s autumn closure, while in its last two-week closure this month, Israel allows people to gather outdoors in groups. up to 10, with exemptions for religious activities.
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But there have also been examples of democratic governments imposing extreme rules. An Australian state government, where officials reacted fiercely to the flames, it even banned outdoor exercise and walking with dogs during a brief blockade in November.
Winter’s Resurrection
The Chinese authorities claim that the country’s recovery from the crisis proves that their approach works. And a winter recurrence of the virus in countries such as South Korea, Japan and Sweden, which was initially successful with a minimal disruption approach, which avoided blocking, supports the argument for stricter measures, especially as tired citizens reject home counseling.
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“Given China’s huge numbers and high density, we have demonstrated this [these measures] they are very effective, “Mi Feng, a spokeswoman for the country’s National Health Commission, told Bloomberg News.
In addition to concerns about civil liberties, many governments remain reluctant to impose complete types of blockades, as seen in China because of the economic cost – although research by the latest World Monetary Fund outlook has shown that if countries be decisive in taking such measures, they have behaved better in terms of protecting the economy. New Zealand is one such example, recording only 25 deaths after the rapid imposition of blockades, with life returning to near normal soon.
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However, even China, whose the economy has come back to life, it is aware of the economic pressure. Since the blockade in Wuhan, the authorities have clearly moved away from the closure of economically significant cities, such as Beijing, despite substantial explosions. Officials have resorted to aggressive identification of contacts during a outbreak in the capital last summer.
“As effective as blockages are, they are costly,” said Yanzhong Huang, director of the Center for Global Health Studies at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. “Even for China, it’s unsustainable in the long run,” he added, comparing reflexive blocking decisions to “shooting mosquitoes.”
With vaccinations, actions are now being launched rapidly in major Western countries and China, the hope is that bottlenecks will be much less common in 2021, although there remains substantial uncertainty about how long it will take until sufficient vaccination of the world’s population to safely reopen the global economy.
Despite the economic implications, the legacy of Covid-19 is likely that blockages will continue to occur during outbreaks of highly communicable diseases in the future, especially since they are now a familiar concept to people everywhere for the first time in a century.
“Restrictive quarantine itself is not a new invention, and its application dates back to the Black Death in the Middle Ages,” Huang said. “But it’s ironic that such an old method remains the most effective, despite immense advances in the medical sciences.”
– With the assistance of John Liu, Claire Che and Dong Lyu