Coronavirus: China sticks to zero-Covid policy as management failures and public misery mount

Covid control failures have become public anger flashpoints as health measures become ‘politicised’, experts say

‘Draconian’ Covid policy increasingly unjustifiable as severity of disease drops, world opens up

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Medical workers collect swabs from residents at a nucleic acid testing site following a Covid-19 outbreak in Guiyang, Guizhou province, September 9. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:00pm, 24 Sep 2022Updated: 12:17pm, 24 Sep 2022

Public apologies from government officials in China for mishandled duties are extraordinarily rare events. After all, career success is largely determined by their supervisors, not by the people they serve.

But since the coronavirus pandemic began sweeping across China, public admissions of failures have become more frequent.

From food shortages to denied hospital access for sick people or pregnant women during lockdowns, from the eastern financial hub of Shanghai to Lhasa in Tibet, several local government officials have claimed deep remorse for their blunders. In the latest case, officials from the Guiyang municipal government bowed to say sorry for the deaths of 27 people on a bus that had been making an early morning journey to a remote quarantine facility.

The bus transferring people from Guiyang, the capital of the southwestern province of Guizhou, to a quarantine centre, crashed on Sunday. In addition to the dead, 20 other people were injured.

The disaster happened at around 2.40am as the bus was heading to Libo, a mountainous county about 260km (160 miles) from the city. To prevent driver fatigue, Chinese traffic laws prohibit most coaches from being on highways between 2am and 5am.

The loss of life and apparent disregard for laws and regulations sparked widespread outrage on the internet, setting off a renewed reflection on the country’s zero-tolerance Covid-19 policies.

A bus that transported residents from Guiyang to an unspecified location flipped, killing 27 and injuring 20, September 18. Despite such tragedies, China has given no indication it will ease zero-Covid restrictions. Photo: Weibo

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