In remote Ili, China’s zero-Covid extremes push people beyond breaking point

Local governments far from big centres do not have the resources for a nuanced approach to coronavirus containment

A protracted unofficial lockdown in a Xinjiang prefecture has driven residents well past their limits

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Residents shop at a fruit stall in Urumqi, Xinjiang. Authorities in more remote parts of the country do not have the resources to implement a nuanced approach to Covid-19 containment. Photo: cnsphoto

Josephine Ma

Josephine Ma is China news editor and has covered China news for the Post for more than 20 years.

Published: 5:47pm, 13 Sep 2022Updated: 7:39pm, 13 Sep 2022

The plight of the 4.5 million people in Xinjiang’s Ili Kazakh autonomous prefecture highlights the danger of local governments stretching beyond their limits to enforce an obviously unsustainable zero-Covid policy.

It is the fourth time the prefecture has been locked down in the three years of the pandemic and so far it has lasted more than 40 days.

The lockdown has induced a food crisis, forcing many people to brave the risk of harsh punishment to vent their grievances and plead for help online.

Beijing has ordered local governments to adopt a nuanced approach to restrictions, saying limits should reflect the risk levels based on the number of cases in a residential compound or a street.

And, Ili authorities have not imposed an official prefecture-wide lockdown.

But from posts online, many people appear to have been locked in their homes for weeks and grass-roots cadres simply did not have the capacity to carry out the fine-tuned approach Beijing has called for.