1
00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,840
Speaker 1: China is apparently shutting down the city of sija Jong.

2
00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,000
Speaker 1: This is a city of eleven million people not too

3
00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:10,320
Speaker 1: far from Beijing, and Beijing also reported, as I mentioned,

4
00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:14,480
Speaker 1: and med its first COVID related deaths in six months.

5
00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:16,840
Speaker 1: So joining us now to talk about this more. Michelle

6
00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:21,160
Speaker 1: Cortez Bloomberg Medical Science and Tech reporter, Michelle, this is

7
00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:23,960
Speaker 1: a pivotal moment, isn't it. What is trying to get

8
00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:28,080
Speaker 1: to do next? This is exactly what we've all been

9
00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:31,040
Speaker 1: wondering here. What's going to happen. There's no doubt about it.

10
00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:33,080
Speaker 1: China is trying to find its way out of this

11
00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:36,519
Speaker 1: COVID zero malady. And the problem is that when you

12
00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:38,600
Speaker 1: start opening up, you're going to start seeing more cases

13
00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:40,920
Speaker 1: and more deaths. So they really are going to have

14
00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,840
Speaker 1: to make a decision between whether or not they want

15
00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:46,120
Speaker 1: to open up and accept a little bit more COVID

16
00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:49,320
Speaker 1: in the country, or whether they want to really try

17
00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:53,040
Speaker 1: to protect everybody. This is the first stuff that we've

18
00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:55,560
Speaker 1: we've seen, as you said, since May, there's three of them,

19
00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,240
Speaker 1: all in Beijing, but tens of thousands of cases every day.

20
00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:01,520
Speaker 1: We know these deaths numbers are going to increase The

21
00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:04,120
Speaker 1: question is is what is the response going to be

22
00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:07,600
Speaker 1: from the government. So the gentleman the past over the weekend,

23
00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:10,280
Speaker 1: I believe on on Saturday was eighty seven years old.

24
00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:13,040
Speaker 1: Do we have to begin to delineate or at least

25
00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:18,240
Speaker 1: separate in terms of age here, I mean the elderly population.

26
00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,399
Speaker 1: Is we know I mean from the pandemic that we've

27
00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:24,240
Speaker 1: been going through for the last nearly three years now,

28
00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:30,040
Speaker 1: that older folks are much much more at risk. Yeah, well, absolutely,

29
00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:32,000
Speaker 1: we do know that that's the elderly folks that are

30
00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,440
Speaker 1: more at risk, also those who are under vaccinated or unvaccinated,

31
00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,080
Speaker 1: which a lot of elderly in China are under an unvaccinated.

32
00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:41,560
Speaker 1: The thing is is that China has not made this

33
00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:44,120
Speaker 1: distinction that that you're making right, that the idea that

34
00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:47,760
Speaker 1: you know, people do die if these folks are are elderly,

35
00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:51,480
Speaker 1: they have multiple other conditions. How hard should the country work,

36
00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:54,440
Speaker 1: how much pain should everyone else suffer to make sure

37
00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:58,880
Speaker 1: somebody who's you know, an octogenarian has a few more weeks, months,

38
00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:02,080
Speaker 1: years of life. And in China they have really committed

39
00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:04,000
Speaker 1: to that. They have said that they're not going to

40
00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:06,760
Speaker 1: back down, that the help of everyone in their number

41
00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:09,840
Speaker 1: one priority, and now that's really being put to the test.

42
00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:12,480
Speaker 1: They were getting a little bit more freedom to each

43
00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:15,560
Speaker 1: individual city to make that decision. That's the thing that

44
00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:17,440
Speaker 1: we're wondering whether or not we're gonna hear something from

45
00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:19,799
Speaker 1: the top that hege we really don't want to put

46
00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:23,600
Speaker 1: anyone at higher risk. What's the status of the vaccination

47
00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:28,240
Speaker 1: rolled out at the moment. We are still really under

48
00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:31,320
Speaker 1: vaccinated in China. I mean, they did use a less

49
00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:33,840
Speaker 1: effective vaccine to begin with, but they did a great

50
00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:36,399
Speaker 1: job getting it out in the beginning. The problem is

51
00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:39,920
Speaker 1: that since the outbreak in Shanghai this spring, the number

52
00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:42,560
Speaker 1: of people getting vaccinated every day, every week, every month

53
00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:45,000
Speaker 1: has been quite low. So we have a you know,

54
00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:47,920
Speaker 1: a few millions, you know, maybe dozens of millions, maybe

55
00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:50,200
Speaker 1: a hundred million people in China who have been vaccinated

56
00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:53,200
Speaker 1: in the last six months, but but more than a

57
00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:56,280
Speaker 1: billion people haven't, thoughten vaccinated in the past six months,

58
00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:59,840
Speaker 1: and that's when the immunity from the vaccine really starts

59
00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:03,079
Speaker 1: to wayne. And of course there's very little virus circulating there,

60
00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:06,639
Speaker 1: so there's no natural immunity, so China is really very

61
00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:09,760
Speaker 1: vulnerable still, you know, we were talking a lot about

62
00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,680
Speaker 1: the market's response to this. Michelle, is there a real

63
00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:16,520
Speaker 1: risk here that there is some form of reversion that

64
00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:19,960
Speaker 1: we that we kind of move away from a lot

65
00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:22,959
Speaker 1: of the positivity that had been created after the Party

66
00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:26,920
Speaker 1: Congress and and come to a situation that is much

67
00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:31,919
Speaker 1: more a strict and dire. Well, we are actually seeing

68
00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:35,920
Speaker 1: some reversion already in a Juan, as you guys said

69
00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:39,000
Speaker 1: originally that we as I understand that, but the test

70
00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:41,360
Speaker 1: case starts opening up, and we are seeing them going

71
00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:44,400
Speaker 1: back into a lockdown, asking people to not go out,

72
00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:47,760
Speaker 1: closing schools and whatnot. So yeah, absolutely there's a risk.

73
00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:50,520
Speaker 1: There is all kinds of risk, whether they see these

74
00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:54,880
Speaker 1: massive outbreaks, people flooding into hospitals and you know, stick

75
00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:58,520
Speaker 1: and elderly dying, or whether or not they don't do

76
00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:01,040
Speaker 1: that and they lock everything back down and then folks

77
00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:04,000
Speaker 1: can't be getting out to their jobs and everyone trying

78
00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,000
Speaker 1: to go into a closed bot system and a manufacturing facility.

79
00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:09,800
Speaker 1: So you know, whether they can dread this needle, it's

80
00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:12,800
Speaker 1: going to be very, very tough. It'll be interesting to watch. Honestly,

81
00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:15,880
Speaker 1: they haven't really leaned into the science to do it yet.

82
00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:19,520
Speaker 1: So they're taking away some of the messaging and some

83
00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:21,520
Speaker 1: of the vaccination and some of the things that could

84
00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:24,040
Speaker 1: help them do it more easily. But they do still

85
00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:27,480
Speaker 1: have time. You would think three years into this the

86
00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:29,920
Speaker 1: pandemic that they would know better is what they need

87
00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:32,320
Speaker 1: to be doing, But they're still figuring it out, just

88
00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:36,599
Speaker 1: like every single other country in the world did. Of course,

89
00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,200
Speaker 1: China has been very proud of its record on protecting

90
00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:44,160
Speaker 1: its own population and frequently launched to put into Western countries,

91
00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:47,799
Speaker 1: and they're comparatively elevated death rates. But what a local

92
00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:50,880
Speaker 1: media saying now, has there been any discernible shift in tone.

93
00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:55,159
Speaker 1: There really hasn't been much of a discernible shift in

94
00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,120
Speaker 1: tone from the state media. They have been saying that

95
00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:01,120
Speaker 1: the changes recently were just to I tune and if

96
00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:03,200
Speaker 1: they were going to actually go harder in some of

97
00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:05,640
Speaker 1: the more narrow measures so that they don't have to

98
00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:08,479
Speaker 1: go more broadly. The biggest ship that we're seeing is

99
00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:12,120
Speaker 1: in the social media. So many people are just very

100
00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:15,279
Speaker 1: very angry about the restrictions and of course being shut down,

101
00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:19,240
Speaker 1: the snap lockdown, the keeping your kids home from school.

102
00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:21,320
Speaker 1: A lot of people have been quite upset about that.

103
00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:25,200
Speaker 1: More significantly, we're hearing from some people that they're not

104
00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:27,960
Speaker 1: as afraid of the virus as they were in the beginning.

105
00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:31,159
Speaker 1: That's a real fear, of course, because China has been saying,

106
00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:34,200
Speaker 1: as you say, that they are protecting the country, that

107
00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:36,400
Speaker 1: they have such a better record, which, of course, as

108
00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:40,039
Speaker 1: you say, they do. But people are less afraid of it,

109
00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:42,440
Speaker 1: and they're realizing that it's just because you get it,

110
00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:44,200
Speaker 1: doesn't mean you're going to die, doesn't mean you're gonna

111
00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:47,120
Speaker 1: affect your parents and kill them. And as more people

112
00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:51,440
Speaker 1: realize more accurately what this virus looks like, the easier

113
00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:52,960
Speaker 1: it's going to be for China to get out of it.

114
00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:56,120
Speaker 1: So you're talking about the public reaction. During our production

115
00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:59,120
Speaker 1: meeting today, we were talking about two gentlemen I believe

116
00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:02,200
Speaker 1: I can't called the city on the mainland uh in

117
00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:06,360
Speaker 1: which they were residing, that they were kind of convicted

118
00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:10,120
Speaker 1: for a four four years sentence and and sentenced subsequently

119
00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:12,880
Speaker 1: for for violating COVID policy. I mean, what do we

120
00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:19,040
Speaker 1: know about the degree to which people have been compliant. Well,

121
00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,440
Speaker 1: by and large, people have been very very compliant. People

122
00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,800
Speaker 1: do stay in their homes, they don't go out you know,

123
00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:28,479
Speaker 1: and as a result, anytime there is some kind of

124
00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:32,039
Speaker 1: a big outpouring of reaction and we tend to write

125
00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:33,560
Speaker 1: about it. So we've been doing a lot of those

126
00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:37,520
Speaker 1: stories lately. But honestly, it's it's noteworthy in that there's

127
00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:39,600
Speaker 1: not that many of them, right. You see some people

128
00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,480
Speaker 1: occasionally trying to rush out of an idea or scale

129
00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:45,440
Speaker 1: a gate to get out of a lockdown. By and large,

130
00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:48,200
Speaker 1: most of the country is still pretty compliant, but there's

131
00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:51,080
Speaker 1: no doubt about it that they have been very strict

132
00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:55,000
Speaker 1: about staying with the rules. That is an area actually

133
00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:58,760
Speaker 1: where we did see a change from the Standing Committees

134
00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:01,000
Speaker 1: and the Paul Bureau came out about a week or

135
00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:03,560
Speaker 1: two ago now where they changed some of the directions

136
00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:05,360
Speaker 1: and some of the rules that they were going to

137
00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:07,800
Speaker 1: um carry out. And one of the things that they

138
00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:10,840
Speaker 1: did no longer say is that it would be against

139
00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:13,360
Speaker 1: the law to say anything against COVID here. Okay, Michelle

140
00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,400
Speaker 1: will leave it there, Thanks so much. Michelle Cortez, Bloomberg's

141
00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:17,880
Speaker 1: medical science and Tech reporter,