Why doesn’t China have a second wave?

[Custardcream67]

China had the initial wave of infections early 2020 then hardly any cases since. Their population is much bigger than UK. How can they have it so under control. Seems suspicious to me.

[johnsnowmemo]

In a word, they simply acted how we would have had to act if pandemic hit which had a mortality rate of 10%. We could have doine what they did. We chose, from a governmental but also cultural/sociological perspective, not to, as we didnt not consider the threat/the consequences worth it unfortunately I think it was not so much an informed decision here, more a weak and badly informed leadership which didn't manage things or explain things well enough to its populace. I guess time will tell.

[Joswis]

[quote Cam77]@Ihaveyourback
"Brutal regime to ensure everyone stays in line, along with monitoring in every street on every town".

The use of emotive language makes interesting discussion difficult. The simple fact is that the vast, vast majority of Chinese people are very glad that their government did what it did, instead of doing what we are doing.[/quote]
Exactly Cam77. My best friend is Chinese. She said to me, 'Why isn't your government testing everyone?' 'Why aren't the infected in special hospitals?'

[CountreeGurl]

They are used to coronaviruses and know how to deal with them. Countries that have adopted the SARS model, like NZ, have coped much better. Also culturally they are not exceptionalists like the British. They tend to follow rules

[OfaFrenchmind2]

I think it is a mix of States lies to preserve the economy and a totalitarian government being able to impose measures that would be unacceptable to any western citizen?
I prefere to have Covid than live in China tbh. It is a beautiful country with lovely people that will eat itself in the long term.

[justasking111]

My DB lives in Kunming, you do as you are bloody well told he says, as a welsh boy he is astounded by our laissez faire attitude to covid.

[Cam77]

@Krampusasbabysitter

"Records showed that the number of active phone accounts in spring 2020 dropped by almost 21 million compared to the end of 2019. Even if some of the drop can be explained by the closure of some telecom companies, there is still a huge unexplained number of phone account holders vanishing. Another report showed huge numbers of coffins for cremation being ordered and dispatched in spring in the most affected regions that far surpass the official death toll reported by China."

Yes, that was the sort of propaganda and half truths that many Western outlets were spouting around February when they were revelling in China's predicament. Believe it if you want. There are tens of thousands of expats based in China who will testify that the virus has caused minimal disruption or tragedy (relative to popualtion) compared to most everywhere else.

[ShanghaiDiva]

@Ihaveyourback
My dh’s experience was very different:
No hatch for food, able to receive deliveries of food and takeaways and not squalid. Not a pleasant experience, but not awful and he was in a wechat group with all the other foreigners in quarantine in the building and staff running it were pretty accommodating.

[ZaraW]

@FrankieFrankFrank

We lived in China a few years ago so have lots of friends there. No one we know knows of anyone who has had it so I don’t think the figures are suspicious. They just did a proper lockdown where no one was allowed out at all, and testing is whole cities. Also, the government is much more powerful that here so people don’t break the rules!

I've heard the opposite. My friend does a lot of business in China. Travelling there four times a year pre Covid. Her suppliers and contacts have told her there was a huge cover up. Typical of a Communist dictatorship.

[user1468968478]

@ihaveyourback
"Everyone travelling into China are immediately put into a quarantine which is more like a prison, in total isolation - they are served food by a hatch with staff in full PPE. Two weeks and then you are tested and released. Squalid conditions, inedible food and patchy wifi. The most grim two weeks of my friend's life. It is very strict to say the least, inhumane others may say."

I came back to China in September and my designated quarantine hotel was the Hilton - certainly not inhumane or like prison

There are grotty hotels on offer but quarantine is really not that bad. All the countries that have managed to clamp down on the virus seem to have introduced these strict quarantine measures, they evidently work...

[ShanghaiDiva]

@Cam77
The same stories get trotted out each time and those of us that have lived there and have personal experience are usually shouted down and called communist govt plants!
As pp have said, my Chinese friends cannot believe what is happening in the uk.

[Krampusasbabysitter]

@Introvertedbuthappy Phone holders disappeared as they all flew back to home countries. Many colleagues left it until the end of March then couldn't return as they shut the borders. One school here lost 227 staff that way! They didn't all die

I did not say the all died. However, the number of people leaving and returning to their home countries does not even closely tally up to the number of phone holders disappearing since December 2019. It still leaves a significant number unaccounted for. The draconian measures to enforce quarantine almost certainly helped to prevent more catastrophic fatalities but China suppressed and obfuscated reports on this new virus initially, which further skewers accurate reporting.

[RunningFromInsanity]

I wish our government had done what the Chinese government had. A month or so of strict lockdown and they are pretty much back to normal.

The British attitude has made this so much harder than had to be.

[SoupDragon]

...more a weak and badly informed leadership which didn't manage things or explain things well enough to its populace.

I think a fair amount of blames has to lie at the feet of the Great British Public.

[johnsnowmemo]

Also culturally they are not exceptionalists like the British I think this is interesting - I think Bojo said in one of his speeches that the British people didn't follow rules and this fed into the greatness of the British and illustrated his belief with the statement that the British have been the forefront in all brilliant society changes and inventions. The latter part wouldn't be true - brilliance has been fair spread across the nations and races and cultures over the last few thousand years. And also the refusal to follow rules in Britain is somewhat recent - during the 2nd WW apparently we had more restrictions in terms of rationing, freedom, work than any other nation, which were enforced/followed by the British People. What changed in our society I wonder.

[merrymouse]

I’m not surprised at all, Chinese culture focus on the greater good while ours in the triumph of individualism.

Not really true.

Other countries who followed the SARS model like New Zealand have also avoided a second wave, and people in New Zealand aren't radically different to people in the UK.

There wasn't much resistance to the first lock down.

However, the UK government has never taken any measures to organise proper quarantines.

[RoseGold7]

Don’t trust everything you hear in the western media about China and the Far East. Very anti-East. I like to listen to people that actually live there. You get the true picture. In China, they’ve taken precautions to the point where life is pretty much back to normal.

[JinglingHellsBells]

In China they were much stricter and also the public were more careful.

I have friends in China (they are Chinese) and the care they took in their own homes (sanitising shoes, packages delivered, etc) far outweighed anything most people do in the UK.

They abided by the rules and the surveillance they have in China also means everyone's movement can be watched so social distancing etc is enforced far more as was travel.

[Clavinova]

They sack people who mess up;

"Feb - Heads roll over coronavirus outbreak in China prisons."

"Two Hubei prison officials were sacked" ....

"The tally in the eastern Shandong province was 207, with 200 inmates and seven prison officers testing positive for the coronavirus disease, COVID-19, at a jail in Jining city."

"Seven prison officers and the Communist Party’s secretary for Shandong's department of justice were fired over the development."

www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/heads-roll-over-coronavirus-outbreak-in-china-prisons/1740652

[Joswis]

Exactly Rosegold. I have a friend at the school I used to work at. Other than returning to the UK in the summer, his life is exactly as it was before. Into the city at weekends for shopping, meals, drinks, parties.

I should have stayed.

[OneofPansPeople]

@Introvertedbuthappy I've heard so many stories about internet control etc I'm surprised to see you have Mumsnet access.
Obviously is not as bad as I thought

[Genevieva]

It did. We are only having a second wave of infections. All cause mortality and respiratory mortality in the UK is slightly below average for the time of year. Yesterday's announcement is linked to pressure to equalise the situation in different parts of the country and fear of rising hospital admissions, rather than Covid mortality. It is seen as a preventative, but whether it is the right course of action is hard to ascertain. My view is that it probably isn't and that tier one is probably sufficient everywhere.

[AllPlayedOut]

And also the refusal to follow rules in Britain is somewhat recent - during the 2nd WW apparently we had more restrictions in terms of rationing, freedom, work than any other nation, which were enforced/followed by the British People. What changed in our society I wonder.

It's a tiresome myth that everyone blithely obeyed them. I do wish that people would stop romanticising WW2. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-33566789

[JinglingHellsBells]

Interestingly, a lot of the Chinese community in the UK- students, post-grads and some professionals- have returned to China because they feel safer there.

[merrymouse]

What changed in our society I wonder.

Nothing. Its all just blather. He just tells whatever story he wants to suit his purpose.