COVID 19 GLOBAL

[bob lt]

11 minutes ago, Bazle said:

My GP is not a fully qualified epidemiologist either!

He is a qualified Doctor of Medicine though.

[fygjam]

Study involving 2.4m people reveals new long Covid symptoms

With up to 20 per cent of the infected developing long Covid, what are the symptoms and who is most likely to experience them?

Reduced libido, ejaculation difficulties and hair loss have been revealed as symptoms of long Covid, according to a study involving 2.4 million peoples’ health records.

A new UK study suggests those suffering from long Covid are battling a wider range of symptoms than what is officially recognised by the World Health Organisation.

The WHO defines long Covid as a set of 33 symptoms which usually develop within three months of a SARS-CoV-2 infection, with the symptoms lasting at least two months with no alternative explanation.

While studies into the illness vary, long Covid is thought to effect five to 20 per cent of people who have had Covid-19.

https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavirus/health/study-involving-24m-people-reveals-new-long-covid-symptoms/news-story/5981323d7d93ff0039a84a2773802ba1

 

The actual study.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-01909-w

 

[Butch]

5 hours ago, Bazle said:

My GP is not a fully qualified epidemiologist either!

 This Dr John Campbell is not a qualified GP.

My GP isn't an epidemiologist, however he also doesn't have a disclaimer when I enter his surgery telling me his opinion shouldn't be taken as fact.

Edited August 22, 2022 by Butch

[forcebwithu]

13 hours ago, fygjam said:

Study involving 2.4m people reveals new long Covid symptoms

With up to 20 per cent of the infected developing long Covid, what are the symptoms and who is most likely to experience them?

Reduced libido, ejaculation difficulties and hair loss have been revealed as symptoms of long Covid, according to a study involving 2.4 million peoples’ health records.

A new UK study suggests those suffering from long Covid are battling a wider range of symptoms than what is officially recognised by the World Health Organisation.

The WHO defines long Covid as a set of 33 symptoms which usually develop within three months of a SARS-CoV-2 infection, with the symptoms lasting at least two months with no alternative explanation.

While studies into the illness vary, long Covid is thought to effect five to 20 per cent of people who have had Covid-19.

https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavirus/health/study-involving-24m-people-reveals-new-long-covid-symptoms/news-story/5981323d7d93ff0039a84a2773802ba1

 

The actual study.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-01909-w

 

Symptoms previously attributed to aging. 

[fygjam]

14 minutes ago, forcebwithu said:

Symptoms previously attributed to aging. 

Quote

The risk of developing long COVID was also found to be increased along a gradient of decreasing age.

 

[Nightcrawler]

My guess is this.

For some those who had Covid, may now be thinking about or weighing up personal advantages or disadvantages of having this new booster vaccine in Autumn. Although Covid can still be life threatening, the newer strains are obviousy not as destructive.

But the other side of this is about controlling future epidemics and spikes in infection rates as we head into winter and the effects they may have on the economy and efficiency of services due to sickness and quarantine.  The bigger picture may be to lessen the chances of contracting the virus through vaccination.  So there are 2 ways of looking at it. 

Like before, everyone has a choice, and usually those choices are made upon one's own circumstances and the information available to them.

There is no perfect answer  

There is discussion  about Long Covid and the longer term damage that the Covid virus can cause if you catch it, versus  the damage that the Vaccines themselves might cause.

Personally speaking, I have always gone on with prevention better than cure approach  

Whilst the YouTube Doc makes some interesting points, none of it is conclusive enough for me to decide not have the latest jab. But that said, there is plenty of time for new information to arrive out there 

We get detected from one disaster to another.  What seems most important at the moment is inflation and the massive rises in energy prices. 

Could we cope with a new epidemic of Covid on top of that this winter???

[Bazle]

36 minutes ago, Nightcrawler said:

The bigger picture may be to lessen the chances of contacting the virus through vaccination. 

That is a major issue for me. As I understand it, the vaccines do NOT stop you contracting the virus.

[Butch]

In a post I made, I mentioned earlier, if a vaccine would or could have lessened the severity of the Delta variant that I had, I'd have snatched your arm off for it.

I hope (and would like to think) that my subsequent vaccines lessened the symptoms of the BA5 Variant I had last month, plus also as I'm led to understand, the vaccines protect the more vulnerable as well.

It's a personal choice for us all, much like taking a paracetamol for a cold or flu, anything that reduces the severity or length of symptoms, or even lessens the severity of the more dangerous symptoms such as inflammation or reduction in lung and respiratory function, then for me, personally that's something I'll opt for, especially if the condition is highly virulent and easily spread.

It's well known that no vaccine is 100% effective, but again, it falls to personal choice working from the information that is out there, ultimately.

[lazarus]

The more people who choose to be vaccinated, the quicker the Covid virus will be permanently in the rear view mirror.

It's not just about the individual but the collective good and future health of mankind.

I'll be getting my second booster soon. Just waiting to see what (if any) formulation changes are made to address the more recent variants.

. . .

Recent NY Times OP/Ed (free link below)

Aaron E. Carroll is the chief health officer for and a distinguished professor of pediatrics at Indiana University. His show and podcast on health research and policy is “Healthcare Triage.” @aaronecarroll

The Abysmal Covid Vaccination Rate for Toddlers Speaks Volumes

You would think that vaccination sites would have been swamped with parents rushing to vaccinate their young children against Covid after the Food and Drug Administration authorized the vaccines for the under-5 age group in June. But as of early August, around 5 percent of eligible children under 5 had received the first dose of the vaccine series. Worse, the number of them being immunized has been decreasing.

Some may argue that it’s harder to get their young children vaccinated because not all drugstores will give shots to babies and toddlers. But the fact that ‌uptake is still so low, even though pediatricians and family physicians‌ can provide them, suggests a lack of urgency. Moreover, only 30 percent of those ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated, and vaccines for that group have been authorized since fall 2021 and ‌‌are available anywhere shots are given.

‌The best way to end the pandemic and keep everyone safe is vaccination. Immunization is the only intervention that gives the benefits of extended immunity without the dangers ‌of infection for all ages. It’s what we’ve done to combat — and even eradicate — a host of diseases that used to ravage humanity.

What does it say, then, that most parents have not vaccinated their children against Covid‌? ‌‌Even if, as the data would suggest, they’ve vaccinated themselves at much higher rates? ‌

I fear that it’s indicative of Americans’ loss of trust in the public health system of the United States. Much of that is because of misinformation and disinformation spread about the safety and efficacy of vaccinations. But some of it is the result of inconsistent and often suboptimal science communication by public health experts.

Too many messages are still centered on trying to frighten people into compliance by arguing about worst-case scenarios and ‌‌convincing them that things are as dangerous as ever. They amplify every new variant and predict future worsening. They point to charts of the unvaccinated and vaccinated and marvel at the differences in deaths.

Such charts almost always, however, depict outcomes that don’t easily apply to young children. If the goal is to persuade parents to take action to prevent harm to their children, this won’t work.

The risk of Covid infection today is not what it was two years ago (or even last year). Hospitals continue to admit people infected with Covid, but many of them are incidentally so, and the intensive care units are relatively empty. Parents have seen many of their children, and their children’s friends, get Covid and do fine, adding to a belief that this isn’t nearly as dangerous as they were led to believe. This perception, when it comes to their children, isn’t necessarily wrong. If public health advocates want to change minds, then they are going to have to change their strategies to accept this safer reality.

Older people ‌‌continue to be at the highest risk of death from Covid. Arguing that they needed to get vaccinated, and more, to save their lives made sense. Saying that childhood deaths from Covid are somewhat more common than influenza may be true, but too many parents don’t think influenza is a problem either. Many ‌‌do not vaccinate their children against that, let alone mask and isolate them.

Some of the information is indeed confusing. Several European countries are not recommending vaccination against Covid in young children because they believe they are not at high enough risk of disease. I disagree with that decision, because even though it’s rare, youngsters do die of it (as they do from influenza). I have no problem recommending we vaccinate them against the flu, too.

What’s more, there are other outcomes from Covid that warrant intervention, and that’s most likely a better argument for childhood immunization. Children who are vaccinated have a lower chance of getting sick at all, and if they do get sick, they are likely to have a lower chance of getting severely ill, developing MIS-C or being hospitalized. They probably have a lower chance of being affected by long Covid, too. Such outcomes are far more common in children than death.

Further, getting more people immunized will lower the overall prevalence of Covid in the community and benefit everyone. We often vaccinate to protect those who cannot protect themselves. We should want as many people, including children, to get immunized as soon as possible to make all people safer. Focusing on the collective benefits ‌‌instead of individual risks might yield better results. Acknowledging the continued danger while calling for a collective response to protect those most at risk might make more sense than lessening other measures while still calling the pandemic an emergency.

Fear-based messaging can backfire. Shaming people for not agreeing with your policies on Covid prevention will harden their positions, not make them more likely to agree with you.

‌‌The pandemic isn’t over. Cases are still rampant, too many people are dying and huge swaths of the world remain unvaccinated. If health experts cannot convince people that true dangers of Covid exist, then there will be little public will not only to vaccinate but also to support other measures, like better ventilation and further spending on public health in general. Such things would undoubtedly improve health and safety but would require the investment of energy and resources.

Beyond Covid, ‌‌many parents are not getting their children immunized against other infectious diseases. Polio — a disease that was once eradicated in the United States — has now been detected in the wastewater of New York.

Public health science isn’t decided by a vote. ‌However, it requires most people to understand and support broad action to succeed. Those ‌leading our efforts to fight the Covid pandemic need to change their tactics to win such backing, because what they’re doing ‌‌isn’t working. We are not a country split on the dangers of Covid, but a country that may not be listening anymore.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/18/opinion/covid-vaccination-children-toddlers.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DFDm8SiOMNAo6B_EGKbq19Ztd2wT2QT95HOaMuQ_o3xe9eO0B3Rg_tvpyIlJAIOT5zqZ62Wil--aPxao0C0G2gaHileqA4zaejvhmCPX_pXqffhHwqcBJnpcZuaV2ojHwXzviWFvpw2NIo36txU5AuQzYQdWLd6amTfhZ_ONmMbx7X6BBnGL0KHGGOwqPPru4IYw5QClnZTXJg4mxa6NtUOdofOauXPAd3MYOlwu1XUjo0Wd_vU54hRIHUlKFouarNqnGPyMm0xvYwEcZErZD5KtJEsb5kfKrsuERnSpI&smid=url-share

 

Edited August 23, 2022 by lazarus
cleaned it up a bit...

[lazarus]

On 8/23/2022 at 4:05 AM, lazarus said:

I'll be getting my second booster soon. Just waiting to see what (if any) formulation changes are made to address the more recent variants.

It's coming...

Moderna seeks approval for booster targeting variants
Moderna asked the FDA to approve its application for a booster shot targeting the BA.4/BA.5 omicron variants

Pharmaceutical company Moderna announced on Tuesday that it completed its submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization for its BA.4/BA.5 omicron-targeted bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccine. “We have worked closely with the FDA to ensure that Americans will have access to Moderna’s updated, bivalent booster, which, if authorized, may offer higher, broader, and more durable protection against COVID-19 compared to the currently authorized booster,” said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna, in a statement. “Moderna’s mRNA platform has enabled us to develop, study, and deploy bivalent booster vaccine candidates that demonstrate superior protection against all tested COVID variants, in record time. Our commitment to using cutting-edge science to protect the world against the ongoing COVID threat continues.” Pfizer and partner BioNTech announced their application for emergency use authorization for its boosters on Monday. If authorized, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could sign off on the new shots as early as next week.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/health/article/COVID-in-California-live-updates-17392182.php

[fygjam]

A group of Australian anti-vaxxers who tried to sue state and federal governments citing fears over “a new world order” have been slugged with $AU214,023 in legal costs after the case was thrown out of court.

Nine applicants took the fight to the Federal Court of Australia in October last year claiming that lockdowns and vaccine mandates were “being implemented or undertaken in the context of a new world order” and “constituted a breach of the Nuremberg Code”.

The “new world order” references a conspiracy theory popularised by far-right conspiracists QAnon which asserts that a secret totalitarian world government is emerging.

Justice Debra Mortimer struck out the case against the Commonwealth, Victorian, NSW, Queensland, NT, WA and Tasmanian governments in July and an order on Monday awarded costs to each government.

“The allegations do not justify a trial,” she said.

https://www.news.com.au/national/courts-law/australian-antivaxxers-who-sued-state-and-federal-governments-forced-to-pay-214023-in-legal-costs/news-story/5c9624ef82c32e1cedcecac5a0d462c5

 

[lazarus]

For those who still think Covid is an issue in their lives:

"The U.S. on Wednesday authorized its first update to COVID-19 vaccines, booster doses that target today’s most common omicron strain. Shots could begin within days.

The move by the Food and Drug Administration tweaks the recipe of shots made by Pfizer and rival Moderna that already have saved millions of lives. The hope is that the modified boosters will blunt yet another winter surge.

“You’ll see me at the front of the line,” FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks told the Associated Press shortly before his agency cleared the new doses.

Until now, COVID-19 vaccines have targeted the original coronavirus strain, even as wildly different mutants emerged. The new U.S. boosters are combination, or “bivalent,” shots. They contain half that original vaccine recipe and half protection against the newest omicron versions, called BA.4 and BA.5, that are considered the most contagious yet.

The combination aims to increase cross-protection against multiple variants..."

. . .

U.S. clears updated COVID boosters targeting newest variants
U.S. regulators have authorized updated COVID-19 boosters, the first to directly target today's most common omicron strain

https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/national/u-s-clears-updated-covid-boosters-targeting-newest-variants/article_b965d713-a02c-5251-acf0-ab024279c796.html

 

[Mr. Smooth]

Haven't had a look at this thread in quite some time, but the traffic is way down from what it used to be, taking over 2 months to just fill the last few pages. Used to be 50-60 a day. Guess it just shows the interest is waning and people who have either gotten vaxxed, boosted, or had Covid and recovered, are going about their lives and putting this virus in the rearview.

That said, with the new boosters upcoming in availability, not all medical experts are on board, and thinks it's not worth the bother, with limited protection in many cases.

But, as the bar girls say, "Up to you".

 

 

Omicron booster shots are coming—with lots of questions

https://www.science.org › content › article › omicron-boo...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nightcrawler]

In UK, the Covid alert level has been downgrade to level 2 following a recent dip in cases. No doubt as we approach autumn it may rise again but for now it's good news. The schools are opening soon after the summer break and that might make a difference. 

[Kathmandu]

On 8/20/2022 at 8:12 AM, Yessongs said:

Wifey and I have both had 4 shots, that is enough for me personally. No more. 

Yeah big news around here is that the " fancy dancy" all in one flu shot/covid variant is coming this fall.

This is the one, my 4th, I'm waiting for. Next week I hope. Then I'm done for a year and will be good to go.

[Glasseye]

I hate to rekindle a sore subject.... But, not looking very peachy.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/05/world/asia/china-covid-lockdowns.html

 

As China Imposes More Covid Lockdowns, ‘Everyone Is Scared’

Nearly every province has recorded infections in recent days, leaving some 60 million residents locked down. Weariness is growing by the day as the restrictions go on seemingly without end.

• Give this article
•  

 

 

A testing site in Chengdu, China, on Friday, during a lockdown. The city’s testing system collapsed over the weekend, leaving residents waiting in line for hours.Credit...EPA, via Shutterstock

 

 

By Vivian Wang

Sept. 5, 2022, 5:55 a.m. ET

In the hours before the southern Chinese city of Chengdu entered a coronavirus lockdown, Matthew Chen visited four vegetable markets in an attempt to stock up on fresh food. But seemingly the entire city had the same idea, and by the time he got to each place, most of the shelves had been stripped bare, except for hot peppers and fruit, he said.

Mr. Chen, a white-collar worker in his 30s, managed to scavenge enough cherry tomatoes, meat and greens for about one day, and since then has been ordering grocery deliveries to tide him through the lockdown, which began on Friday. But he worries about whether that supply will remain stable, and how much longer he will have to rely on it.

“The longer a lockdown goes, the more problems emerge, and the harder it is to tolerate it,” he said, noting that the Chengdu government had not given a timeline for reopening.

 

 

Problems have already appeared. Some residents have complained on social media of long delays in food deliveries. Over the weekend, Chengdu’s Covid testing system — which has been tasked with swabbing all of the city’s 21 million residents every day — collapsed, leaving residents waiting in line for hours.

 

 

Image

 

Workers preparing to deliver food outside a residential compound under lockdown in Chengdu on Friday.Credit...China News Service, via Reuters

 

 

Similar scenes of uncertainty and anxiety are playing out across China, as the country battles a new wave of coronavirus outbreaks, with cases recorded over the past week in nearly every province. The authorities have responded with the lockdowns and mass testing that have come to define the country’s “zero Covid” policy.

The number of infections remains relatively small, with about 1,500 new cases on Sunday. Yet some 60 million people across China are facing partial or full lockdowns, according to Chinese media, from Chengdu to the southern economic powerhouse of Shenzhen to the oil-producing city of Daqing near Russia.

The challenges in enforcing such extensive controls are daunting, perhaps more so now than at any other point in the pandemic. Nearly three years of on-and-off lockdowns have lashed the economy, sending unemployment soaring, especially among young people. The country is increasingly isolated, as the rest of the world largely abandons Covid restrictions. New subvariants are ever more transmissible. And the seemingly endless restrictions leave more ordinary Chinese people wearier by the day.

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But the stakes have also reached new heights. The ruling Communist Party is scheduled to hold an important congress on Oct. 16, where China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is expected to claim a third term. Mr. Xi has given his personal imprimatur to “zero Covid,” casting it as proof of the party’s strength — and by extension, his own leadership. Any local official seen as weakening that claim could face serious consequences.

 

 

The overriding imperative of wiping out infections was evident in the speed with which cities moved to shut down recently, despite the huge economic and social toll.

 

 

Image

 

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has given his personal imprimatur to “zero Covid,” casting it as proof of the ruling party’s strength.Credit...Li Xueren/Xinhua, via Associated Press

 

 

Chengdu on Sunday announced that it would continue the stay-at-home orders and daily universal testing that began on Friday for at least three more days, as the situation remained “serious and complicated.” It did not say whether the lockdown would end afterward.

The restrictions are certain to strain Chengdu’s economy. Even before the lockdown, the city had banned large-scale gatherings, leading to the cancellation of an international auto show that last year generated nearly $1 billion in sales.

The shutdown also follows a recent drought, record-breaking heat and power outages last month that had led to factory closures across Sichuan Province, where Chengdu is the capital. The heat may in fact have exacerbated the virus’s spread: Several major clusters were linked to swimming pools where people had gone to cool off, according to state media.

To many, the panic buying in Chengdu underscored how deeply previous lockdowns — especially the grueling two-month shutdown of Shanghai earlier this year — had shaken people. Though Chengdu officials have tried to reassure residents that food supplies are ample, Shanghai had offered similar assurances, only to see widespread reported shortages of food and medicine.

 

 

Chengdu officials themselves have already tested residents’ trust, after the authorities last week ordered a man detained for 15 days, accusing him of spreading false rumors on social media about a looming lockdown. Two days later, when the city did actually lock down, social media erupted with support for the man and anger at the government.

 

 

 

Image

 

People trying to break through a quarantine fence during a protest in Shanghai in June.Credit...Alex Plavevski/EPA, via Shutterstock

 

 

“Everyone is scared, scared that the situation will become like Shanghai,” said Mr. Chen, the office worker, who had traveled to Chengdu on business before becoming trapped there by the restrictions.

Still, he saw little alternative but to bear with the situation. “Personally, I’m extremely fed up with and not supportive of these policies. But there’s nothing I can do,” he said. “I can only wait.”

The drive for zero cases at all costs has also led to widespread shutdowns in Shenzhen, one of China’s most economically vital metropolises, home to major tech companies, including Tencent and Huawei. There, the local authorities over the weekend ordered most of the city’s 18 million residents to stay at home, postponed the start of the school year and shuttered most public transit, after detecting about 400 cases in the past week.

Lockdowns are being extended in parts of Hainan Province and in the regions of Xinjiang and Tibet, major vacation destinations where flare-ups of infections last month led to thousands of tourists being trapped in their hotels, sometimes at their own expense. Over the weekend, at least 33 cities were under some form of restrictions, according to Caixin, a Chinese news outlet.

 

 

As the restrictions have spread across the country, so has public discontent. In Chengdu, the testing failures prompted a flurry of outrage at the company responsible, with online commenters noting that certain sectors focused on Covid control were profiting while regular people were suffering economically. Testing companies have reported soaring revenue in public filings.

 

 

Image

 

Medical workers collecting swabs at a residential compound in Shenzhen on Saturday. Officials in the sealed-off city have gone to great lengths not to call the measures a lockdown.Credit...David Kirton/Reuters

 

 

 

In Daqing, a city of nearly three million people in China’s northeast that has been locked down for about two weeks, local officials promised to investigate widely shared social media reports of a pregnant woman who miscarried after being denied medical care because of Covid restrictions.

Even the government appears to have tacitly acknowledged that people’s patience is fraying. In many of the cities recently sealed off, officials have gone to great lengths not to call the measures a lockdown. In Shenzhen, local officials described the weekend requirements only as universal testing — then added that residents should immediately return home afterward. The Chengdu announcement said residents would “in principle stay at home.”

On the social media platform Weibo, the hashtag “Chengdu lockdown” has been censored.

Still, no matter what new terms officials use, this experience feels familiar to Freya Yang, a college student from Chengdu. She spent the spring almost entirely unable to leave her campus in Beijing. Now, after going home for the summer, she can’t go back to school and is missing the start of her senior year.

“Everyone only knows what they’re going through, which is that you can’t go outside,” Ms. Yang said. “These word games, people don’t really care about them.”

[Yessongs]

Good lord, what a complete cluster f**k! 

 

[forcebwithu]

The Chinese have taken the definition of sheeple to another dimension. Don't understand how millions allow their lives to be dictated by the few.

[Stillearly]

Suddenly it's all clear ....

 

[lazarus]

35 minutes ago, Stillearly said:

Suddenly it's all clear ....

555...

The RWNJs eat this 💩 up...

[Horizondave]

1 hour ago, Stillearly said:

Suddenly it's all clear ....

 

Why do they give these total idiots air time.

Straight away the word ovid does not mean 'sheep' in any language but 'ovis' does.

As for 19 that probably refers to her IQ on a good day. 

[Stillearly]

2 minutes ago, Horizondave said:

Why do they give these total idiots air time.

Straight away the word ovid does not mean 'sheep' in any language but 'ovis' does.

As for 19 that probably refers to her IQ on a good day. 

It's social media all opinions are valid ....

even if they are complete bollocks 555 😉 

[Horizondave]

2 hours ago, Stillearly said:

It's social media all opinions are valid ....

even if they are complete bollocks 555 😉 

The issue to me is that many will take her word for what she said as gospel truth, that is the sad fact in allowing these people to have a platform.

It's just another example of fake news which really doesn't benefit anybody but becomes divisive.

[Binlid]

Had my Moderna booster on Monday with no side effects to report.

[fforest]

On 9/5/2022 at 10:15 PM, Glasseye said:

I hate to rekindle a sore subject.... But, not looking very peachy.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/05/world/asia/china-covid-lockdowns.html

 

As China Imposes More Covid Lockdowns, ‘Everyone Is Scared’

Nearly every province has recorded infections in recent days, leaving some 60 million residents locked down. Weariness is growing by the day as the restrictions go on seemingly without end.

• Give this article
•  

 

 

A testing site in Chengdu, China, on Friday, during a lockdown. The city’s testing system collapsed over the weekend, leaving residents waiting in line for hours.Credit...EPA, via Shutterstock

 

 

By Vivian Wang

Sept. 5, 2022, 5:55 a.m. ET

In the hours before the southern Chinese city of Chengdu entered a coronavirus lockdown, Matthew Chen visited four vegetable markets in an attempt to stock up on fresh food. But seemingly the entire city had the same idea, and by the time he got to each place, most of the shelves had been stripped bare, except for hot peppers and fruit, he said.

Mr. Chen, a white-collar worker in his 30s, managed to scavenge enough cherry tomatoes, meat and greens for about one day, and since then has been ordering grocery deliveries to tide him through the lockdown, which began on Friday. But he worries about whether that supply will remain stable, and how much longer he will have to rely on it.

“The longer a lockdown goes, the more problems emerge, and the harder it is to tolerate it,” he said, noting that the Chengdu government had not given a timeline for reopening.

 

 

Problems have already appeared. Some residents have complained on social media of long delays in food deliveries. Over the weekend, Chengdu’s Covid testing system — which has been tasked with swabbing all of the city’s 21 million residents every day — collapsed, leaving residents waiting in line for hours.

 

 

Image

 

Workers preparing to deliver food outside a residential compound under lockdown in Chengdu on Friday.Credit...China News Service, via Reuters

 

 

Similar scenes of uncertainty and anxiety are playing out across China, as the country battles a new wave of coronavirus outbreaks, with cases recorded over the past week in nearly every province. The authorities have responded with the lockdowns and mass testing that have come to define the country’s “zero Covid” policy.

The number of infections remains relatively small, with about 1,500 new cases on Sunday. Yet some 60 million people across China are facing partial or full lockdowns, according to Chinese media, from Chengdu to the southern economic powerhouse of Shenzhen to the oil-producing city of Daqing near Russia.

The challenges in enforcing such extensive controls are daunting, perhaps more so now than at any other point in the pandemic. Nearly three years of on-and-off lockdowns have lashed the economy, sending unemployment soaring, especially among young people. The country is increasingly isolated, as the rest of the world largely abandons Covid restrictions. New subvariants are ever more transmissible. And the seemingly endless restrictions leave more ordinary Chinese people wearier by the day.

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But the stakes have also reached new heights. The ruling Communist Party is scheduled to hold an important congress on Oct. 16, where China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is expected to claim a third term. Mr. Xi has given his personal imprimatur to “zero Covid,” casting it as proof of the party’s strength — and by extension, his own leadership. Any local official seen as weakening that claim could face serious consequences.

 

 

The overriding imperative of wiping out infections was evident in the speed with which cities moved to shut down recently, despite the huge economic and social toll.

 

 

Image

 

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has given his personal imprimatur to “zero Covid,” casting it as proof of the ruling party’s strength.Credit...Li Xueren/Xinhua, via Associated Press

 

 

Chengdu on Sunday announced that it would continue the stay-at-home orders and daily universal testing that began on Friday for at least three more days, as the situation remained “serious and complicated.” It did not say whether the lockdown would end afterward.

The restrictions are certain to strain Chengdu’s economy. Even before the lockdown, the city had banned large-scale gatherings, leading to the cancellation of an international auto show that last year generated nearly $1 billion in sales.

The shutdown also follows a recent drought, record-breaking heat and power outages last month that had led to factory closures across Sichuan Province, where Chengdu is the capital. The heat may in fact have exacerbated the virus’s spread: Several major clusters were linked to swimming pools where people had gone to cool off, according to state media.

To many, the panic buying in Chengdu underscored how deeply previous lockdowns — especially the grueling two-month shutdown of Shanghai earlier this year — had shaken people. Though Chengdu officials have tried to reassure residents that food supplies are ample, Shanghai had offered similar assurances, only to see widespread reported shortages of food and medicine.

 

 

Chengdu officials themselves have already tested residents’ trust, after the authorities last week ordered a man detained for 15 days, accusing him of spreading false rumors on social media about a looming lockdown. Two days later, when the city did actually lock down, social media erupted with support for the man and anger at the government.

 

 

 

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People trying to break through a quarantine fence during a protest in Shanghai in June.Credit...Alex Plavevski/EPA, via Shutterstock

 

 

“Everyone is scared, scared that the situation will become like Shanghai,” said Mr. Chen, the office worker, who had traveled to Chengdu on business before becoming trapped there by the restrictions.

Still, he saw little alternative but to bear with the situation. “Personally, I’m extremely fed up with and not supportive of these policies. But there’s nothing I can do,” he said. “I can only wait.”

The drive for zero cases at all costs has also led to widespread shutdowns in Shenzhen, one of China’s most economically vital metropolises, home to major tech companies, including Tencent and Huawei. There, the local authorities over the weekend ordered most of the city’s 18 million residents to stay at home, postponed the start of the school year and shuttered most public transit, after detecting about 400 cases in the past week.

Lockdowns are being extended in parts of Hainan Province and in the regions of Xinjiang and Tibet, major vacation destinations where flare-ups of infections last month led to thousands of tourists being trapped in their hotels, sometimes at their own expense. Over the weekend, at least 33 cities were under some form of restrictions, according to Caixin, a Chinese news outlet.

 

 

As the restrictions have spread across the country, so has public discontent. In Chengdu, the testing failures prompted a flurry of outrage at the company responsible, with online commenters noting that certain sectors focused on Covid control were profiting while regular people were suffering economically. Testing companies have reported soaring revenue in public filings.

 

 

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Medical workers collecting swabs at a residential compound in Shenzhen on Saturday. Officials in the sealed-off city have gone to great lengths not to call the measures a lockdown.Credit...David Kirton/Reuters

 

 

 

In Daqing, a city of nearly three million people in China’s northeast that has been locked down for about two weeks, local officials promised to investigate widely shared social media reports of a pregnant woman who miscarried after being denied medical care because of Covid restrictions.

Even the government appears to have tacitly acknowledged that people’s patience is fraying. In many of the cities recently sealed off, officials have gone to great lengths not to call the measures a lockdown. In Shenzhen, local officials described the weekend requirements only as universal testing — then added that residents should immediately return home afterward. The Chengdu announcement said residents would “in principle stay at home.”

On the social media platform Weibo, the hashtag “Chengdu lockdown” has been censored.

Still, no matter what new terms officials use, this experience feels familiar to Freya Yang, a college student from Chengdu. She spent the spring almost entirely unable to leave her campus in Beijing. Now, after going home for the summer, she can’t go back to school and is missing the start of her senior year.

“Everyone only knows what they’re going through, which is that you can’t go outside,” Ms. Yang said. “These word games, people don’t really care about them.”

If they were doing this in the rest of the would trust me there would be loads of sheep supporting this (same as when it was happening)... Plenty were quite happy to get tested, vaxed a wear masks forever....

It was all just as worthless the first time as it is now...Me and Roobob were say just this from day #1.....