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.
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. …
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.
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