China’s “zero Covid” policy has a dedicated following: the millions of people who work diligently toward that goal, no matter the human costs.In the northwestern city of Xi’an, hospital employees refused to admit a man suffering from chest pains because he lived in a medium-risk district. He died of a heart attack.They informed a woman who was eight months pregnant and bleeding that her Covid test wasn’t valid. She lost her baby.Two community security guards told a young man they didn’t care that he had nothing to eat after catching him out during the lockdown. They beat him up.The Xi’an government was quick and resolute in imposing a strict lockdown in late December when cases were on the rise. But it was not prepared to provide food, medical care and other necessities to the city’s 13 million residents, creating chaos and crises not seen since the country first locked down Wuhan in January 2020.China’s early success in containing the pandemic through iron-fist, authoritarian policies emboldened its officials, seemingly giving them license to act w …
