Official Chinese policy is aimed at zero COVID cases, infections, or deaths in the country.1 To that end, they locked down more than half of the country’s largest cities,2 including 26 million people in Shanghai.
As a way to put the scale of what's happening in China into perspective, CNBC3 took a look at the numbers as they relate to the financial center of Shanghai. The city is home to the world's busiest port and the lockdowns have forced roughly three times as many people as live in New York City to stay home, undergo mass viral testing, and in some cases be forced vaccination.4
While their official permanent resident population in 2020 was 24.9 million,5 some believe it now is near 26 million.6 But that's just 1.8% of the total population of the country.7 Shanghai accounts for 7.3% of exports from the country and 14.4% of imports. Many of these exports come from the semiconductor manufacturing center in Shanghai and many automobile manufacturers also have plants in Shanghai.
It's also a major center for many multinational corporations, including P&G, Nike, General Electric, and Apple. Each of these corporations and industries, as well as the goods produced and exported, are affected by these lockdowns, which cannot stem the spread of this virus.
It is crucial to know and understand what is happening to the people of China as internet censors are removing information8 and mainstream media are not covering the extent of the issue. Much of the surveillance and data gathering that support these brutal attacks on the people come from a QR code system9 that has been in place since February 2020.
Individuals must download the app on their phones to go to stores or ride public transportation. Without approval from the system, people are locked out. The system monitors activities and reports them directly to the police,10 an action that is not widely known or understood. This is the type of vaccine passport system some would like to be released around the world.
Chinese Government Claims Measures Are to Achieve Zero COVID
COVID-19 made its first appearance in Wuhan, China, before 9,000 military athletes from all over the world went to Wuhan to participate in the 2019 World Military Games, creating a super spreader event.11,12
Officially, the Chinese government has a zero-COVID policy, which they describe as “the only way forward,” as reported by The Washington Post.13 According to the Post:
“Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said last week that the reason other countries didn’t follow this approach is because they were simply unable — unlike China.
Other countries had no choice but to “lie down” and accept the virus, but “dynamically clearing” remains the best option for China, he said.”
The zero COVID policy is unachievable with what we know about the virus and it is unthinkable that the Chinese government officials and health experts are unaware of the facts that make their goal unrealistic. It’s unbelievable that they are unaware the measures they put in place to achieve that goal are brutal and insupportable.
The COVID-19 virus comes from a family of viruses that commonly cause the common cold.14 These viruses have an animal reservoir, which we also know to be true about SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.15,16 This means that when the virus is not infecting people, it is infecting animals. It's apparent the Chinese government knows this by some of the actions they've been taking.
Yet, while they believe household pets may carry the virus and spread it, they are not extending their measures to address the billions of wildlife that exist in the country with similar potential to carry the virus, even though they claim the virus first originated in a bat.
To reasonably achieve zero COVID in China, it would require killing every animal in the country and completely closing the borders to any travel in or out, including import of goods, unless those products were stopped at the border and a different crew took over the truck, plane, or train.
In other words, using the Chinese government's logic, China must be separated from the rest of the world. However, like all mass measures against millions of people, some information gets out. I must warn you that the rest of this article details just some of the atrocities being perpetrated on the people of China and the videos supporting these claims are disturbing to watch.
26 Million People Confined to Their Homes in Shanghai
To put what follows into perspective, on April 18, 2022, Reuters17 reported that Shanghai had experienced three deaths from the Omicron variant, which we now know produces no more than mild cold symptoms in most people.18 Reportedly, this was the first death in Shanghai of patients with COVID-19 in the current outbreak.
Shanghai continues to report asymptomatic COVID cases as well as symptomatic illnesses and has conducted more than 200 million nucleic acid tests since March 10, 2022. This all is an effort to achieve a zero COVID country. Yet, in an interview with government adviser Dr. Ivan Hung, ABC News19 learned that “eventually everyone will have to live with the virus,” which is far from having a zero-COVID state.
A phased lockdown in Shanghai began March 28, 2022, but by April 5, 2022, 26 million residents were under the single biggest citywide restrictions since the pandemic began.20 These lockdowns forced residents to stay in their homes and did not allow them to visit the grocery store to replenish food or to get medication from the pharmacy.
This affected hundreds of thousands of elderly in the city, which experts estimate accounts for nearly one-third of the Shanghai population.21 The South China Morning Post22 tells the plight of one elderly couple who, like others in their position, live alone and keep less than a week's worth of food at home.
At the start of the lockdown, the couple began rationing the food they had, hoping to make it through the lockdown or until government supplies could reach their home. Their daughter was also quarantined, and the couple was unable to use smartphones because of their eyesight.
In their case, a young couple in the compound began organizing help for all the elderly residents to get them food and supplies. But not every isolated older individual had this help. This video shows people trying to break out of a compound, shouting “We are starving!”23
Despite the strain on the city's logistics and delivery system that impacted food shortages, a video released on social media shows large quantities of fruits and vegetables delivered to a warehouse where they were opened and shoveled directly into garbage bins.24
One online list of people who have died because of the restrictions was deleted by the Chinese Communist Party-backed censors. Radio Free Asia25 reports that although a user saved it to a blockchain-based site, the URL was blocked. The site claimed more than 152 deaths were directly linked to the zero COVID restrictions and that these were “incomplete numbers.”
Among the names were a former official at the Hongkau district maternal and child health center after he committed suicide, a nurse who died from an asthma attack, the vice president of NETCOM Securities, who died from a stroke, and several suicides of people who died jumping from tall buildings.26
Brutality Used to Enforce Quarantine Orders and Vaccinations
After testing positive, residents are not allowed to quarantine in their homes but are transported to quarantine camps where they are packed into metal cell cities quickly erected around Shanghai. One shown on ABC News27 had 3,900 beds and was built in one week.
Residents who are unwilling to be transported to camps without adequate facilities, temperature control, or food are brutally grabbed off the street.28 The Guardian29 reported that in early April 2022, 30 hospitals across the city suspended operations.
In other words, as the government told their citizens they feared a rising number of cases and deaths, they also suspended operations at hospitals. Individuals began taking to social media to ask for help. The Guardian30 reported that one resident wrote “I’m not able to buy food. I have nothing left in my fridge. My neighborhood has been sealed off. I don’t know what to do.” And another:
“Our 90-year-old has diabetes. Before the lockdown, our doctor prescribed to us some medication to use at home because all the nurses were asked to help with Covid tests. Suddenly, Pudong was shut down, and we were unable to get the medication at all. Then we bought it online, but the delivery company was unable to send it to us because they are not delivering anything now.”
The cruelty against the citizens of China has not ended with the quarantine restrictions and the dangers associated with it. The Chinese government is anxious for all citizens to be vaccinated. To that end, they are hunting down people in the street31 and forcibly vaccinating adults and children.32
Sometimes they have broken into people's homes.33 In one video, you can hear a child screaming in fear while the adults are laughing.34 According to The Washington Post,35 critics of the restrictions of lockdown, brutality, and starvation consider these concerns to be an unavoidable cost of mass restrictions and no longer necessary since nearly 90% of the country is vaccinated.
Yet, officials continue to tell the citizens that relaxing restriction policies would lead to “an unsustainable surge in death.”36 However, despite more than 350,000 people who tested positive since March 1, 2022, either the country has discovered a cure, or the Omicron variant is really just a mild illness since only three unvaccinated people ages 89 to 91 have died, each of whom had preexisting medical conditions.
Shanghai Lockdown Adding Pressure to Global Supply Chain
In addition to the crimes against humanity, it's also important to recognize the economic damage caused by the citywide lockdown and the congestion in the port of Shanghai. The Epoch Times37 reports this lockdown will likely cause disruptions in logistics that will eventually exacerbate the global supply chain challenges, which began at the start of the pandemic.
One U.S. financial expert told The Epoch Times this could create greater inflationary pressure in the U.S. since Shanghai plays a crucial role in the manufacturing industry and exports to America. One survey done by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai shows 167 U.S. companies that conduct business in Shanghai have lowered their forecasted revenues.
A shortage of staff, no raw materials, and slower production have impacted the manufacture and distribution of goods. The U.S. imports more than 15% of its products from China and will likely continue to feel the pinch of rising prices.
Pets Are Not Exempt in a Police State
Public criticism is also aimed at officials who are killing pets when owners are testing positive for the virus.38 Radio Free Asia reported the efforts of one Shanghai resident, Ji Xiaolong, who published a petition to authorities in Beijing while under lockdown.
After this he was warned about speaking out in public, but spoke to a Radio Free Asia reporter saying, "I hope my petition will be placed on Xi Jinping's desk," and that he has been taking multiple phone calls every minute from people across China since the petition was posted.
The petition followed closely on the heels of video footage of enforcement personnel beating a Corgi dog on the side of the road after the owner was taken away, having tested positive for COVID-19.
Radio Free Asia39 reports that in the video, one member of the local neighborhood committee said he poisoned the dog and then handed it over to the committee. This is only one example of pets in the city that have been abused and killed when their owners test positive for COVID-19.
After the incident, the committee responded: “At that time, the workers did not consider (the matter) very comprehensively. We will communicate with the owner and offer compensation later.”40
In another video, you can see six enforcers with long metal poles beating a very small dog to death41, and a third shows at least nine bags filled with pet cats on the curbside waiting to be killed.42
It isn’t difficult to imagine how locking down and starving residents, forcing vaccinations on children and adults, and abusing and destroying people’s pets is one more way of manipulating and controlling people to bow to the will of the elite.
One comment on Twitter seems to sum it up “Fear and hunger turn into bravery and anger against injustice. Ignorance and blind obedience turn into brutality and inhumanity.”
