Covid-19 is spreading rapidly in China’s biggest cities, leading to widespread drug shortages and exposing Beijing’s lack of preparedness after authorities rolled back strict pandemic controls.
Residents of Shanghai, Shenzhen and other cities have reported that pharmacies have run out of fever medicine and Covid tests, while social media images contrast long queues outside Covid clinics with otherwise empty streets.
The outbreak interrupted normal life just weeks after Beijing abandoned zero Covid controls – which included lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing – with little warning.
In many cities, residents were sick or staying home to avoid infections. Shanghai and several other cities have announced they will move classes online for most students starting Monday.
In Shanghai, Lindsay Feng, a technician, noted that eight of 21 neighbors in her apartment complex had contracted Covid in the past 10 days. “My high fever is gone, but I’m swallowing razor blades now,” said Feng, who tested positive at home on Saturday.
In the southern city of Shenzhen, a pharmacy owner said his store had run out of cold and fever medicines. “I’ve been asking for supplies for two weeks, but factories are always postponing my orders,” he said, adding that he plans to pick up any supplies himself as soon as they become available. There are no drivers. . . they all tested positive.
Ivy, a student in nearby Guangzhou, said her classmates had had one fever after another in recent days, although some of them could not determine if it was. acted out of Covid symptoms as home testing was not readily available. While an online hospital set up by the city still had medicine, Ivy said it lacked healthy workers to deliver items.
There is a lack of reliable data On the scale and speed of the outbreak after Chinese authorities scaled back Covid testing and stopped reporting what they deemed as asymptomatic cases. On Saturday, the country reported only 2,028 new locally transmitted cases.
Unofficial estimates vary; for example, an amateur statistician known as Chenqin, who analyzed online search trends, estimated that there were nearly 40 million new Covid cases on Friday. On Saturday, Chenqin estimated that 39% of Beijing had been infected.
Estimates suggest 29% of Chongqing city, 16% of Guangzhou and 11% of Shanghai have been infected. They also indicate that a few cities, including Beijing and nearby Shijiazhuang, have passed the peak of their first Covid waves and daily infections have started to decline.
The estimation methodology has not been validated by experts or the Financial Times, but has attracted attention online in China in the absence of official figures.
An ongoing online survey launched by state-owned Beijing News on Thursday found that 45% of 114,000 people surveyed had Covid or had already recovered from it.
In Shijiazhuang, the capital of northern Hebei province, resident Xue Zhikun said many people had started venturing outside again after recovering from the virus. But it’s not quite yet [back to normal]he said.
Meanwhile, economic policymakers in Beijing have begun to look beyond the immediate health crisis and focus on stabilizing the country’s struggling economy. Officials wrapped up the Central Economic Work Conference on Friday, an annual meeting to set the economic policy agenda for the coming year.
The rally pledged to strengthen the economy in 2023 and sought to inspire confidence by praising the importance of the private sector, including property and internet companies.
Han Wenxiu, an official with the Communist Party’s Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission, said the government would continue to roll out policies to support growth at a forum on Saturday, while a senior central bank official said it would add stimulus if needed.
“Tone is important,” said Wang Qi, managing director of fund manager MegaTrust Investment in Hong Kong. “China’s refocus on economic growth injects confidence into the market, which will likely react positively on Monday.”
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