20’th CCP National Congress Special Issue 02: China’s Zero Covid Policy and Beyond

Written by Howen Yu

Edited by Mike Wu, Hao Gao, and George Hahn

Our Fellow, Howen Yu has had the opportunity to interview his own father–a Beijing based volunteer worker acutely impacted by the zero-covid policy during his stay in Tibet. The OICP have compiled a series of personal accounts from him during the 3-month long lockdown. Through these accounts, we attempt to illustrate the impacts of China’s strict covid restrictions towards normal civilians.

​​Looming Anxiety

Mr. Yu arrived in the Tibetan Capital–Lhasa on Aug 5th, 2022, for volunteer work. Yet the surging covid infections in Tibet’s Ngari prefecture soon articulated rumors that the Lhasa city might soon fall under lockdown. In the peripheral autonomous regions like Tibet and Xinjiang, the widely accepted “dynamic responses” tactics from China Proper was  abandoned. Instead, the entire region is managed unitarily, where any possible infections in any prefectures could trigger an all-out lockdown. On August 8th, restrictions began to tighten, and Mr. Yu had to present regular PCR test results upon entering all public spaces. Four days later, his neighborhood was officially under "static management". His movements were restricted within his apartment block, and only two hours of outdoor activities were granted upon the  approval from the residents’ committee . Hours before the city’s lockdown, supermarkets in Lhasa were crowded with anxious city dwellers as “informants” in their WeChat groups claimed that necessities would run out as the city Locks down. Led by the lack of official quarantine guidelines and information, The ill-informed gossips in their WeChat groups were the only sources Lhasa residents relied upon.

​​Rings of Contact

Just days after Mr. Yu’s neighborhood lockdown on August 12th, residence committee personnel barricaded his entire apartment building. They declared his neighbor, a “primary contact” who was already cleared from the official quarantine facility, as a “Covid threat”. As a result of China’s extensive covid tracking system, anyone who has vaguely entered the same area with a covid patient will be categorized as a “primary contact”. They will be given a red badge on their mobile phone and be placed under a 14-day quarantine until tested negative. Anyone that was in the vicinity of primary contacts could be labeled as a “Secondary contact.””. They, along with residents who did not get tested in time, will be given a yellow badge. As all public spaces except the hospital only accept an “all clear” green badge, they are essentially denied from most social services until they are cleared from consecutive negative tests at the testing labs/quarantine facilities. The immense pressure and fears of developing a covid case pressed neighborhoods in Lhasa to enforce even stricter restrictions, often to an absurd level. Mr. Yu’s neighbor was neither tested positive nor symptomatic, yet property management still locked down his home along with the home of hundreds of others in the building with little previous notice.

Residents in the complex were mostly cooperative and understanding in the beginning. However, as the city-wide lockdown lingers and rumors of reopening were repeatedly dismissed,Anxiety among residents began to simmer as they now have no incomes and are running low on daily supplies. According to Mr. Yu, distant screams and curses throughout the apartment complex could even be heard. He was not as severely impacted as he had ample necessities and used reading and meditation to manage his mental health. With working in Tibet now seeming unfeasible, he began plans to leave Lhasa and return home.

No Way Home 

During Tibet’s covid outbreak, public transportation like trains and flights were extremely limited and were subject to arbitrary cancellations. During the height of the lockdown, driving and even cycling out of Tibet were regarded as the more efficient methods to surpass the series of procedures required by the local health officials. During his departure, Mr. Yu had to file an “exit application” to his residential committee one week in advance. After the committee’s approval and rounds of consecutive covid negative tests, he was then handed a “travel document” so he may arrive at the local hospital for a final covid test to be admitted at the airport. Mr. Yu’s flight was originally scheduled on October 28th, but he was denied a boarding pass at the airport as airline representatives found his final covid test had expired for 38 minutes. He then used his connections in the airline just to book another ticket 7 days later. On November 4th, almost three months after his arrival, Mr. Yu was finally able to fly out of Lhasa.

Even after his arrival in Chengdu, Mr. Yu was far from a  free man as he was directly placed in another quarantine apartment for five extra days. Health officials in Chengdu still considered him a “high risk” personnel even after his three months of isolation and 8 successive negative covid tests. He was tested another three times in Chengdu and was released from quarantine on November 9th, 2022. At the time of the interview, Mr. Yu  was still unable to travel back to Beijing as his clearance information was never received by health officials in Beijing.