Beijing conducts mass COVID-19 testing as increased cases may force a lockdown

Beijing conducts mass COVID-19 testing as increased cases may force a lockdown

Transcript¹

NPR's Leila Fadel talks to David Rennie, Beijing bureau chief for The Economist², about the mass COVID-19 testing of millions of residents to contain the spread as a potential lockdown looms³.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Let's turn now to China and its battle against COVID. Beijing has started mass testing 20 million residents to try to contain a new omicron outbreak. The new measures triggered fears that the capital will be locked down like China's biggest city, Shanghai. With us now by way of Skype is the Beijing bureau chief for The Economist, David Rennie.

Hi, David.

DAVID RENNIE: Good morning.

FADEL: So as this mass testing program gets underway, what's the mood in Beijing right now?

RENNIE: I think if you're a government official, you are extremely concerned because this is not just a very big city; it's the capital. It's where the big bosses live. And they have done everything for the last two years to keep COVID out of Beijing. We have uniquely strict rules here. And China did an extraordinary job for two years of keeping COVID levels kind of incredibly low. It involved incredibly tough controls. But Shanghai has just been hit by a massive wave of the omicron variant⁴. We currently have tens of millions of Chinese in cities around China more or less locked down. And now omicron is beating at the gates of Beijing.

So if you're an official, you're looking at the numbers. They're still very low. We had about 46 new cases today in a city of 22 million. So by American standards, that's incredible. But if you're an official, you know that the political and the public health crisis of omicron hitting Beijing is just vast. The population actually out on the streets - talking to regular Beijingers - they're kind of weirdly⁵ confident that they live in the most important city. They live in the same city as the big Communist Party leaders. And so they'll be fine. They won't let omicron come in to Beijing. Now, whether that confidence is justified⁶, we will find out.

FADEL: But let's talk about those strict measures because we've seen these scenes out of Shanghai of people shouting at workers, erecting⁷ barriers, some even kicking down barriers. Could we see those same strict lockdowns in Beijing and scenes like that?

RENNIE: Sure. I mean, I think that the leadership in Beijing has only unpopular choices ahead of it. It can either have the embarrassment⁸ of erecting fences, locking people into buildings, like you've seen in Shanghai, or it can play it calm for now. And that risks COVID getting hold here, and then it really takes off, and you have, you know, very, very large lockdowns. So they only have unpalatable choices. Right now, because Beijing is such a privileged, special city, we're seeing them try something different from anywhere else in China. We've got these kind of ultraprecision lockdowns. We've got, I think...

FADEL: OK.

RENNIE: ...21 areas that are locked down very tightly. But the rest of the city is weirdly normal but kind of a bit tense.

FADEL: So how is Beijing going to go about testing 21 million people?

RENNIE: They got this down to a fine art. I mean, I've had, like, dozens and dozens of tests to just move around. I've had two tests this week. It was free. It took about 5 minutes. These are PCR tests - you know, the proper swab down the throats.

FADEL: Right.

RENNIE: Then they take you - you know, it's all linked through your smartphone, which is an ID in this country. Every time you move around the city - any building, any cab you go into, you have to scan a code so your movements are tracked. I mean, the degree of privacy that we've kind of got used to kind of losing here...

FADEL: Yeah.

RENNIE: ...I think, would boggle the mind of Americans. But, you know, we've been at this for two years, and we've got this kind of high-tech⁹ surveillance cameras, smartphone tracking, real-time movement tracking going on all around us in an attempt to make sure that anyone who gets COVID - they will track anyone they've met in the last several days, lock them all into quarantine. I mean, it's an extraordinary kind of vision of a science fiction future.

FADEL: I mean, with the tracking of people, the QR codes, it also raises issues of civil liberties. Is there room for the dissent¹⁰ against government rules and advice that we see here in the U.S.?

RENNIE: Absolutely not. This is a completely different sort of social contract between the leadership and the people. The deal here - and I think after two years, everyone understands this - is in exchange for most people living in a China that does not have to worry about catching¹¹ COVID - 'cause most Chinese have never been anywhere near COVID - a minority - but we're now up to tens of millions of people in dozens of cities - basically loses their privacy, is locked indoors for weeks at a time, sometimes without earning any money 'cause they've...

FADEL: Wow.

RENNIE: ...Lost their jobs or can't go to work. That kind of compact would be just absolutely impossible in the West. But it is what the Chinese party is saying is not a success but is, in fact, superior to the American or the Western system. And part of the propaganda here is that Americans are decadent¹² and selfish and individualist and cannot do the tough things that the Chinese Communist Party can do, which makes the Chinese Communist Party ultimately more benevolent¹³ because it cares about human life. So this is not just a public health fight; this is a gigantic political contest explicitly¹⁴ between China and the West.

FADEL: Interesting. In the few seconds we have left, where does China stand right now with access to vaccines¹⁵?

RENNIE: They've banned - or they have not approved foreign vaccines - so the Pfizers, the Modernas, which are clearly more effective than the Chinese vaccines that they're using. They've also not vaccinated¹⁶ their old people in large enough numbers. And so, frankly¹⁷, they have left themselves, for political reasons, without an exit strategy. And that is going to come to haunt them. But right now they're boasting about toughness being the Chinese solution to COVID.

FADEL: David Rennie is the Beijing bureau chief for The Economist. Thank you so much for your time.

RENNIE: Thank you.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

3 looms   

n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• All were busily engaged,men at their ploughs,women at their looms. 大家都很忙，男的耕田，女的织布。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The factory has twenty-five looms. 那家工厂有25台织布机。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

5 weirdly   

古怪地

参考例句：

• Another special characteristic of Kweilin is its weirdly-shaped mountain grottoes. 桂林的另一特点是其形态怪异的岩洞。
• The country was weirdly transformed. 地势古怪地变了样。

6 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

7 erecting   

v.使直立，竖起( erect的现在分词 )；建立

参考例句：

• Nations can restrict their foreign trade by erecting barriers to exports as well as imports. 象设置进口壁垒那样，各国可以通过设置出口壁垒来限制对外贸易。 来自辞典例句
• Could you tell me the specific lift-slab procedure for erecting buildings? 能否告之用升板法安装楼房的具体程序？ 来自互联网

8 embarrassment   

n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫

参考例句：

• She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
• Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。

9 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

10 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

11 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

12 decadent   

adj.颓废的，衰落的，堕落的

参考例句：

• Don't let decadent ideas eat into yourselves.别让颓废的思想侵蚀你们。
• This song was once banned, because it was regarded as decadent.这首歌曾经被认定为是靡靡之音而被禁止播放。

13 benevolent   

adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的

参考例句：

• His benevolent nature prevented him from refusing any beggar who accosted him.他乐善好施的本性使他不会拒绝走上前向他行乞的任何一个乞丐。
• He was a benevolent old man and he wouldn't hurt a fly.他是一个仁慈的老人，连只苍蝇都不愿伤害。

14 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

15 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

16 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

17 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。