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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Virginia Harrison, Carly Earl and Michael Wade

From zero-tolerance into the unknown – a visual guide to three years of Covid in China

People gather on a street in Shanghai on 27 November 2022, where protests against China’s zero-Covid policy took place the night before following a deadly fire in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region.
People gather on a street in Shanghai on 27 November 2022, where protests against China’s zero-Covid policy took place the night before following a deadly fire in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region. Photograph: Héctor Retamal/AFP/Getty Images

Across China Covid testing stations are being dismantled. Barricades have been brought down. A tracking app used to monitor the health the country’s 1.4 billion people has been switched off. People have been given freedoms they haven’t known for years.

At the same time, queues have formed outside hospitals and some medicines are in short supply. Infections, along with worry and confusion over how to live with the once-feared virus, are spreading.

The scenes would have been hard to imagine a month ago. The sudden turn away from three years of strict Covid controls came after a rare wave of protests as anger with the policy spilled over, and as the economic pain caused by lockdowns and restrictions intensified.

It comes nearly three years after world’s first Covid case was detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan. In that time, Beijing has charted a course that saved millions of lives at a huge social and economic cost, and isolated it from the rest of the world.

Now concerns turn to the risk of a surge of infections, fuelled by low vaccination rates among the elderly, and complicated by an inadequate health system. The country faces its deadliest Covid wave.

a woman wears a mask while pushing a wheelbarrow past the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market
On 17 January 2020, a woman wears a mask while pushing a wheelbarrow past the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, the wet market linked to the first cases of coronavirus, in Wuhan. Photograph: Getty Images

The beginning

In December 2019, reports of new pneumonia in Wuhan emerged. Once it had acknowledged the novel coronavirus, which would become known as Covid, Beijing’s response was swift and brutal. Wuhan, with a population of 11 million, was brought under strict lockdown in late January 2020 – a quarantine experiment of a kind the world had not yet seen. The streets emptied and residents were ordered to stay home as the government sought to contain the virus. A new field hospital was built in less than 10 days to cope with cases.

The Huoshenshan temporary field hospital under construction nears completion in Wuhan on 2 February 2020.
The Huoshenshan temporary field hospital under construction nears completion in Wuhan on 2 February 2020. Photograph: AP
Medical staff transfer patients to the newly completed Huoshenshan temporary field hospital on 4 February 2020.
Medical staff transfer patients to the newly completed Huoshenshan temporary field hospital on 4 February 2020. Photograph: EPA

As Beijing grappled with its early response, rage in China built over over the death of a whistleblower doctor. Li Wenliang had warned colleagues on social media in late December about a mysterious virus that would become the coronavirus pandemic and was detained by police in Wuhan on 3 January for “spreading false rumours”. He died from Covid three days later.

Whistleblower Dr Li Wenliang lies on a bed in Wuhan Central hospital, in a photo obtained on 7 February 2020.
Whistleblower Dr Li Wenliang lies on a bed in Wuhan Central hospital, in a photo obtained on 7 February 2020. Photograph: Li Wenliang/Social Media/AFP/Getty Images
A woman wears a protective mask as she accepts a package from a courier through a hole in a makeshift barricade wall
A woman wears a protective mask as she accepts a package from a courier through a hole in a makeshift barricade wall around a residential compound in Beijing on 25 February 2020. Photograph: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
A medical worker takes a swab from an elderly resident to be tested for Covid-19 at her home in Wuhan on 14 May 2020.
A medical worker takes a swab from an elderly resident to be tested for Covid-19 at her home in Wuhan on 14 May 2020. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

By April, Wuhan had emerged from lockdown. China’s vigilance intensified, with mass testing of millions of people and contact tracing, to stamp out the virus. Cities across the country moved in and out of lockdown, much like the rest of the world. Beijing’s aggressive approach, which included restrictions on movement and shutting its borders, was effective. China was able to contain outbreaks of the virus and the economy started to recover.

Tourists separated from each other by cardboard have a lunch outside a restaurant at a scenic spots amid the coronavirus outbreak on March 16, 2020 in Chongqing, China.
People separated by cardboard partitions have a lunch outside a restaurant amid the coronavirus outbreak on 16 March 2020 in Chongqing. Photograph: China News Service/Getty Images
Women wearing face masks ride a scooter on a street in Wuhan on 1 April 2020.
Women wearing face masks ride a scooter on a street in Wuhan on 1 April 2020. Photograph: Héctor Retamal/AFP/Getty Images
People visit a night market in Baocheng Road, Wuhan, on 3 June 2020.
People visit a night market in Wuhan on 3 June 2020. Photograph: Getty Images

Success in preventing Covid from spreading across the vast country was a stark contrast to the situations in many western countries, such as the US where deaths surged through 2020, hitting 250,000 in November. In China, death rates were far lower, though some international experts were sceptical about official case numbers.

A woman wearing a face mask is seen at a residential area blocked by barriers in Wuhan, Hubei province.
A woman wearing a face mask is seen at a residential area blocked by barriers in Wuhan in April 2020. Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters

Life under zero-Covid

After the first wave in Wuhan, many in China were able to live relatively normal lives. By containing and isolating outbreaks, people outside hotspots remained unaffected. In the early years of the pandemic as the west battled against the virus, many in China were happy with their government’s approach.

Staff members guard the entrance of a community in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang province, on 20 April 2020.
Staff members guard the entrance of a community in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang province, on 20 April 2020. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Yet as mass testing, travel curbs and mass lockdowns continued through 2021, frustration with the zero-tolerance policy to Covid began to show. People grew weary and questioned Beijing’s strict policies. As more and more countries around the world chose to live with the virus following successful vaccine rollouts, China stuck to a different path.

People in protective suits spray disinfectant on a street in northern China’s Hebei province on 15 January 2021.
People in protective suits spray disinfectant on a street in northern China’s Hebei province on 15 January 2021. Photograph: CNS/AFP/Getty Images
A door is seen at the Guixi residence community which is under lockdown because of new Covid-19 infections in Shanghai, China, 26 January 2021.
A door is seen at the Guixi residence community which is under lockdown because of new Covid-19 infections in Shanghai, China, 26 January 2021. Photograph: Alex Plavevski/EPA
A commuter wears a mask to protect against Covid-19 as he sits on a bus on 4 August 2021 in Beijing.
Health workers prepare to collect swab samples during a Covid-19 testing operation at a residential block in Chengdu, Sichuan province of China, 2 November 2021.
Top: A commuter wears a mask to protect against Covid-19 as he sits on a bus on 4 August 2021 in Beijing. Above: Health workers prepare to collect swab samples during a Covid-19 testing operation at a residential block in Chengdu on 2 November 2021. Photograph: VCG/Getty Images

In November 2021, surreal scenes at Shanghai Disneyland underlined Beijing’s hardline approach. The park was locked down and 34,000 people tested after a single case.

This file photo taken on October 31, 2021 shows medical personnel testing visitors for the Covid-19 coronavirus at Disneyland in Shanghai after a single coronavirus case was detected at the park.
This file photo taken on October 31, 2021 shows medical personnel testing visitors for the Covid-19 coronavirus at Disneyland in Shanghai after a single coronavirus case was detected at the park. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

As the year ended, lockdowns continued and the economic costs were revealed, as supply and logistics problems disrupted world trade and rattled markets. Interruptions at China’s Ningbo port over Covid cases hit already-strained global supply chains.

Ningbo-Zhoushan Port in east China’s Zhejiang Province.
Ningbo-Zhoushan Port in east China’s Zhejiang Province in August 2021. Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock

Things fall apart

A painful months-long lockdown in Shanghai in early 2022 exposed fresh anger over the virus control strategy. The ruthlessly enforced lockdown created financial hardship and despair for millions. Reports of residents being unable to access food, medicine and other essentials were widespread. The strict lockdown mounted the largest challenge to China’s hardline policy as social and economic costs became more pronounced. Footage of localised protests against lockdowns were quickly removed by China’s censors.

Workers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) package vegetables at a vegetable planting base during the phased lockdown triggered by the COVID-19 outbreak on May 3, 2022 in Shanghai, China.
Workers wearing protective equipment pack vegetables during a lockdown in Shanghai in May 2022. Photograph: VCG/Getty Images
People wearing protective equipment as they transfer daily food supplies and necessities to Shanghai residents in April 2022.
People wearing protective equipment as they transfer daily food supplies and necessities to Shanghai residents in April 2022. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Workers set up a makeshift hospital for Covid-19 patients on 7 April 2022 in Shanghai.
Workers in protective clothing walk by retail shops and neighbourhood surrounded by metal barricades for Covid-19 control in Beijing on 26 June 2022.
Above: Workers set up a makeshift hospital for Covid-19 patients on 7 April 2022 in Shanghai. Below: Workers in protective clothing walk by retail shops and neighbourhood surrounded by metal barricades for Covid-19 control in Beijing on 26 June 2022. Photograph: Andy Wong/AP

Yet low rates of vaccination and a reliance on Chinese-made vaccines that are less effective than western counterparts presented big risks to the healthcare system, making it difficult for China to change course. An inadequate hospital system, lack of anti-virals and determination not to experience millions of deaths like the west further complicated Beijing’s position. In the face of fresh outbreaks of the fast-moving Omicron variant, the elderly remained particularly vulnerable.

The costs of zero-Covid were growing. A tragedy in Guizhou province became a lightning rod for social media criticism of zero-Covid policy, after 27 people were killed when a bus carrying them to a Covid-19 quarantine facility crashed. The death of a three-year-old boy from carbon monoxide poisoning in north-west China in November 2022 triggered widespread outrage. His father said the boy died over delays in obtaining treatment caused by strict Covid rules. In October, Chinese authorities strictly censored discussion of a rare protest in Beijing that saw large banners unfurled on a flyover calling for boycotts and the removal of President Xi Jinping.

Rare political protest banners removed in Chinese capitalSmoke rises as a banner with a protest message hangs off Sitong Bridge, Beijing, China October 13, 2022 in this image obtained by REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. SUBJECT’S FACE OBSCURED AT SOURCE.
Smoke rises as a banner with a protest message hangs off Sitong Bridge in Beijing on 13 October 2022. Photograph: Social Media/Reuters

“We want food, not PCR tests. We want freedom, not lockdowns. We want respect, not lies. We want reform, not a Cultural Revolution. We want a vote, not a leader. We want to be citizens, not slaves,” said one banner.

It came just days before Xi, at the 20th Communist party congress, reaffirmed China’s commitment to the zero-Covid policy that has made it a global outlier.

A health worker waits to test people for the Covid-19 coronavirus on a street next to a residential area in the Jing’an district of Shanghai on July 5, 2022.
A health worker waits to test people for the Covid-19 on a street in Shanghai on 5 July 2022. Photograph: Héctor Retamal/AFP/Getty Images

Frustration in part due to Covid policies was also on display at the huge iPhone factory in Zhengzhou city in late 2022. Hundreds of workers joined protests, with some men smashing surveillance cameras and windows, in rare scenes of open dissent in China. The protests marked an escalation of unrest at the factory that has come to symbolise, in part, a dangerous buildup in frustration with the country’s ultra-harsh Covid rules.

An apartment fire in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region, which killed at least 10 people became another flashpoint. Authorities denied suggestions that firefighters were prevented by strict virus restrictions from rescuing people. But the disaster triggered anger and protests broke out in the region. Crowds chanted “End the lockdown” as many of Urumqi’s 4 million residents had been barred from leaving their homes for 100 days. In the following days the protests spread, reaching more than 20 cities. Demonstrators clashed with police in cities including Shanghai and Beijing. The disparate yet unified outpouring of frustration with how Covid was being handled marked a rare challenge to Xi and Communist party rule.

Police check mourners during a vigil for the victims of a deadly fire in Urumqi, in Hong Kong on 28 November 2022.
Police check mourners during a vigil for the victims of a deadly fire in Urumqi, in Hong Kong on 28 November 2022. Photograph: Jérôme Favre/EPA
Policemen pin down and arrest a protester during a protest on a street in Shanghai on 27 Nov. 27, 2022. Authorities eased anti-virus rules in scattered areas but affirmed China’s severe “zero- COVID” strategy Monday after crowds demanded President Xi Jinping resign during protests against controls that confine millions of people to their homes. (AP Photo)
Police officers pin down and arrest a protester during a demonstration on a street in Shanghai on 27 November 2022. Photograph: AP
A man is arrested while people gather on a street in Shanghai on 27 November 2022.
A man is arrested while people gather on a street in Shanghai on 27 November 2022. Photograph: Héctor Retamal/AFP/Getty Images

Authorities stepped up their presence and went after those involved. Soon, the streets were cleared but frustration continued to simmer. Case numbers were also rising. The protests reflected a society worn down by an uncompromising approach to Covid, and not long after – as cases continued to rise – some lockdowns were lifted and the government struck a different tone on the severity of the virus. China began to drop parts of the strict regime. In December, the government said people mild or no symptoms could now quarantine at home. Many testing requirements were dropped, travel rules eased and some tracking apps shut down.

A woman wearing a face mask walks on a street in Shanghai on 13 December 2022, as Covid outbreaks continue.
A woman wearing a face mask walks on a street in Shanghai on 13 December 2022, as Covid outbreaks continue. Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters
Empty shelves are seen in a pharmacy on 13 December 2022, as customers try to find medicine as Covid cases rise in Beijing.
Empty shelves in a pharmacy in Beijing on 13 December 2022, as customers try to find medicine as Covid cases rise.
Photograph: Ng Han Guan/AP

The dismantling of the harsh zero-Covid regime has brought relief, and concern, for what the next chapter may hold.

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