According to Chinese Communist Party President Xi Jinping, the recent lockdown in Shanghai is an example of steps he will take to enforce China’s no-COVID policy in response to a sudden uptick in COVID-19 cases.
“The message to Shanghai and everyone else is clear-suck it up for the good of the country, the policy is not going to change in any fundamental way, and we are going to grind through the pandemic and anything or person that gets in the way,” wrote China analyst and expert Bill Bishop in an April 13 newsletter.
Jinping intends to double down on the restrictions, the newsletter stated.
“The current global pandemic is still very serious, so we cannot relax the prevention and control work,” Jinping stated, according to the newsletter. “Persistence is victory. Adhere to people above all else, life above all else, adhere to the prevention of imported cases, a rebound of domestic cases, adhere to scientific precision, dynamic zero-COVID, grasp the details of the epidemic prevention and control initiatives.”
The lockdown in Shanghai, declared just over three weeks ago, has raised concerns and sparked protests about the potential humanitarian impacts it could have on the population, as well as the disruptions it could cause the supply chain for various companies, Reuters reported. The city is one of 87 to implement quarantine measures.
The volume of goods shipped by sea out of Shanghai has dropped 26% between March 12 and April 4, according to a Quartz report. The volume of goods leaving the port by truck dropped 19% in the same period. Both declines are attributed to the shutdowns.
The occurrence was flagged by the United States Department of State, who ordered "the departure of non-emergency U.S. government employees and all family members from the Consulate General Shanghai consular district" April 11, a DOS travel advisory stated. The request was made days after an announcement stating that departure was voluntary.
“We need to overcome paralysis, war-weariness, "get lucky" mentality and complacency,” Bishop’s newsletter stated. “In response to the new features of the virus' mutation, we need to improve our capabilities in scientific and precise prevention and control, improve various contingency plans, and strictly implement regular prevention and control measures to minimize the impact of the epidemic on economic and social development."