Beijing’s Unmatched Fight against Covid19.

Published: May 08,2022

By Mubarak Mugabo,

Beijing, the capital of the People’s Republic of China has shown unmatched capabilities against Covid19after an increase in locally transmitted cases.

There is an ongoing mass testing of residents intended to trace and break the spread of the virus by the municipal authorities.

China had reported about 1656 cases around mid-march from the southern provinces of Guangdong (Guangzhou), Fujian, Shandong and Liaoningaccording the National Health Commission of China.

These are certainly very small figures given China’s 1.4 billion population. However, China has maintaineda dynamic zero covid19 approach intended to eliminateall infections in the country.

This rare defensive approach has protected millions of Chinese from losing lives. The US has for instance lost a million people out of the 6 million Coviid19 deathsworldwide in just two years.

The approach also saw China successfully hosting the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games at time when countries were still battling the pandemic.

A single case especially in major cities and provinces in China triggers very serious but rather preventive measures. Guangzhou, the manufacturing hub for example has since ordered for the closure of some stores and markets.

Ugandan and African traders who mainly rely on products from Guangzhou, Zhejiang, Shanghai and other southern provinces have since been affected.

Shanghai, the country’s coastal city and financial hub was reporting more cases and some parts were placed under a temporally lockdown. About 727 locally transmitted cases were reported at beginning of May according to Shanghai Municipal health commission.

Beijing was still reporting single digit cases until around mid-April when we saw a rise in locally transmitted cases. Many of these reported cases were asymptomatic according to the Beijing Municipal Health Commission.

By Friday last week, 29 new locally transmitted cases were reported from Beijing. These cases were traced from three out of the 16 districts of Beijing according to the municipal authorities; these were Xicheng, Shunyi, Tongzhou district, Chaoyang districts.

The cases have since increased and Beijing reported about 55 new cases at the start of May. This prompted new preventive measures including closing different malls, some schools, restaurants and places where cases were traced from.

We experienced some delays from delivery services as restaurants and delivery companies had to comply with the preventive measures. Food for example which would normally be delivered in 20 minutes would take an hour or more from a place as close as 1.2kilometers.

According to a report published by the Guardian newspaper of the UK, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests cost more than $100 in the US by January.

There were temporary roadside areas which were carrying out Covid19 tests at a cost of about 90RMB($13) around the same time in Beijing. The cost declined to about 30 RMB ($4.57) between Februaryand March. I visited the districts of Shunyi, Dongchengand Chaoyang a week ago where similar tests would cost between 25-35 RMB.

Besides increasing the number of temporary roadside testing areas, Government ensured availability of moretesting kits at every testing area around Beijing. When I checked again to carry out another test, the cost had declined from 30 RMB to about 4RMB ($0.61) perperson.

When cases increased in late April, local authorities eventually launched a mass testing campaign to coverthe over 20 million Beijing residents. The exercise started with the various essential service institutions like those in the banking sector, delivery companies and hotels.

This mass testing has been further extended to the various institutions of learning and the private sector.On my way to check again on the road side testing areas, I met a health emergence team on street whoasked me to take an instant free test.

Today, the mass testing campaign have made all health centers and the many temporary road side testing areasin Beijing to offer free covid19 testing for people, a rare practice that shows an approach that seeks to eliminate all infections.

This Beijing unmatched anti-covid19 capacity traces cases from all over to break the transmission chain and explains why China easily contained all previous outbreaks. 

The opinion was first published in the New Vision on 5^th May 2022.

The Writer is a Ugandan Journalist, CAPC Fellow and Dongfang Scholar at Peking University in Beijing.