Author: Lea Jackson
On Thursday, Chengdu confirmed 51 asymptomatic cases and 106 new local symptomatic cases.
Due to this, millions of students in China may have to learn from home when the new school year calendar begins. While China continues to follow an aggressive strategy to battle the epidemic, the United States has reduced most COVID restrictions.
Lockdown in Chengdu
On Thursday, the Chinese authorities imposed a lockdown for the 21 million residents of Chengdu, a city in China’s southwest. This was caused by a reported COVID-19 breakout in the city.
Nevertheless, over 1.4-billion-persons in the country still maintains a “zero COVID” policy.
Chengdu identified 51 asymptomatic cases and 106 new local symptomatic cases. The city has encountered more than 600 symptomatic cases in the previous week.
Millions of students were supposed to resume a new academic session but the resumption was postponed due to the pandemic.
Presently, the city residents are free to utilize public transportation and leave the city if they wish.
Even though the United States registered 15,850 fatalities to COVID-19 in August, the highest number at the country level in several months, the American government has loosened most COVID-19 limitations despite ongoing difficulties, while China continues to pursue an aggressive strategy to battle the pandemic.
Only those who have tested negative during the last 24 hours are permitted to go home to buy food, toiletries, and other necessities daily. Moreover, no details about the end date of the lockdown have been announced.
How lockdown influenced the Chinese economy
China is the only developed country that continues to follow the Zero-COVID strategy, which involves severe quarantine requirements, immediate-effect lockdowns, and mass testing to control illness outbreaks.
People’s employment, consumption patterns, and travel behaviors have all been impacted by the horror of being placed in quarantine because they were in the company of an infected individual, and this has caused severe harm to China’s economy.
However, government representatives emphasized that these measures are necessary to stop a second global outbreak of the pandemic, which initially started in the city of Wuhan in 2019.
As a result of pandemic control measures, students in more than ten Chinese cities and provinces have experienced an unexpectedly difficult academic year.
Deaths are on the Rise
Despite the growing ratio and death toll, the United States, unlike China, has loosened most coronavirus prohibitions.
The US estimated that approximately 15,000 Americans had died from COVID-19 in August. This is the highest number of deaths in a couple of months, ahead of the 12,500 Americans who died from COVID in July. Most Covid patients who died were either immunocompromised or older than 70.
According to the CDC, the danger of death and hospitalization from Covid has reduced significantly, due to the high rate of vaccination among Americans.
Millions of Americans still have to receive the advised booster shot. As a result, the immune system’s capacity to fight the pandemic declines. Most studies show that the initial vaccines, which require three shots, can last very long.
Conclusion
As the coronavirus outbreak spreads across China, authorities have locked down several cities and regions. In Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province, they’ve blocked off over 21 million people from leaving their homes. Authorities say the lockdown is necessary to prevent the virus from spreading further. But will these measures cause more good than harm?