China and covid

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The fortunes of the world’s second-biggest economy hinge on two kinds of hesitancy. The first is over vaccines. China’s elderly are surprisingly #cautious *reluctant #scared #wary to get inoculated against covid-19. That has saddled the country with a #helpless #sensitive *vulnerable #weak population that could die in large numbers if the government abandons its #arguable *controversial #equivocal #hypothetical “zero-covid” policy. But this uncompromising stance, which tries to stamp out any outbreak of the virus, #commands #constrains #makes *obliges China to impose ruinous lockdowns on some of its most productive cities, including Shanghai, where some unlucky residents have been *confined #imprisoned #kept #restrained to their homes for over 30 days. | These limits on movement are wreaking economic havoc. Even before the worst restrictions were imposed, retail sales #deflated #diminished #reduced *shrank by 3.5% year-on-year in March (without #accommodating #adapting *adjusting #modifying for inflation), according to figures released on April 18th. Catering services fell by more than 16%. Unemployment in China’s 31 biggest cities is now 6%, higher than in 2020, points out Zhang Zhiwei of Pinpoint Asset Management. #Chiefly #Mainly *Overall #Throughout GDP grew surprisingly fast in the first quarter, by 4.8% *compared_with #contrasted_to #like #related_to a year earlier. But that was #almost #exceedingly *mostly #often because of the economy’s strength in the first two months of the year.