Last week, there was some schadenfreude in Western media over the possible end of China’s success in wiping out outbreaks of COVID-19. Previous victories gave rise to the “sour grapes” commentary that China was going overboard in saving each individual life. However, as of Monday, it appears China has turned the corner yet again.
China had 1,328 cases between October 17 and November 14, rivalling the 1,280 cases of their summer outbreak. The current one is centered in the northeast port city of Dalian, with 307 cases over the last twelve days. (Dalian has a population of 7.45 million people.) Chinese health officials have traced the problem to a) problems at the port city with the storage and handling of frozen food imports; and b) the nearby university area of Zhuanghe, where 10,000 students were quarantined, centered, in particular, around two large dorms. Overall, about 22,000 people were isolated in Dalian.
