‘Zero Covid’ Catastrophe: Participating Nations See New Records Across the Board

– July 16, 2021 Reading Time: 5 minutes
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Zero Covid, the idea that heavy-handed government edicts and population controls can permanently eliminate a coronavirus from a country, is now failing spectacularly everywhere it is being tried.

You might not read about it in western corporate press agencies, but Zero Covid nations are seeing explosions in Covid-19 cases across the board. The widely praised “success story” countries that followed the radical ideology that is Zero Covid have not only failed to contain a virus, but are now witnessing the uncontrolled spread of that virus in their population centers. The governments committed to this pseudoscientific, totalitarian adventure are scrambling for options, and responding by locking down their nations and further violating the rights of their citizens. The lid has flown off the Zero Covid pressure cooker, revealing the shortcomings of such a reckless ideological endeavor.

Let’s take a look at how “Zero Covid” nations are holding up:

Australia

Australia is arguably the most dedicated large nation to a Zero Covid strategy. The country has been closed off from the vast majority of the world since the beginning of COVID Mania. Even many Australian citizens have been unable to enter or leave the country. 

Australia has pursued so many lockdowns that it’s pretty much impossible to keep track of what number we’re currently at. Zero Covid has been an unmitigated disaster, as Canberra’s elimination strategy has unsurprisingly failed to permanently move cases to zero. 

On Thursday, Melbourne and Sydney, Australia’s two largest cities, enacted yet another lockdown. This will be Melbourne’s fifth lockdown in the span of a year and a half.

Australia’s lockdowns have been infamously ruthless.  In some places, lockdowns meant citizens were only allowed to leave their homes for one hour a day, and they were not allowed to travel outside of a certain radius from their homes. In many places, the act of protesting is illegal, and it will be met with by riot police. Australia has also enacted mandatory quarantine camps for citizens who are privileged enough to be allowed to return to the country.

Vietnam

Labeled a Zero Covid “success story” by the corporate press for its ultra stringent policies, cases are now exploding in Vietnam. The government, in full panic mode, has responded by locking down major cities, only for the case count to continue to move upwards.

South Korea

Seoul set up one of the most intrusive Covid surveillance regimes in the world. Applauded by authoritarians as a country that had its priorities in order, South Korea was supposedly the model “contact tracing” nation. Today, South Korea is seeing record numbers across the board. This week, the country has seen record case loads. Zero Covid has failed, and the government has responded by restricting rights even further.

Singapore

Once a Zero Covid nation in good standing with the radical ideologue “public health experts,” the government in Singapore wised up and decided last month to drop the idea of forever eliminating a minimally threatening endemic virus.

China

China is lying about its COVID numbers and just about everything else. The Chinese Communist Party claims to be a Zero Covid participant, but in reality, Beijing has been fooling the world about mitigation and suppression “successes” since day one of Covid Mania.

Thailand

Thailand, a widely praised “success story” for its strict lockdowns and other draconian policies in pursuit of Zero Covid, is setting its own Covid case records.

New Zealand

New Zealand, which has been in a self siege since the beginning of 2020, remains completely committed to its Zero Covid elimination strategy. Like Australia, the country has set up quarantine camps for people who have been granted access to the nation. Due to isolation-related Covid “immunity debt,” the country is seeing skyrocketing hospitalizations among children, who are not threatened by Covid-19.

Free from Covid (for now), emergency rooms are said to be at a “breaking point” in the country, with the country dealing with unknown “winter illness.” It seems the Zero Covid fanatics have forgotten that there are still other ways to get sick.

Kiwi officials have not even commenced discussions over how long they will remain committed to their self siege strategy. Their closed borders have resulted in a massive shortage among hospital staff.

Summary

Every country that has embraced the radical notion of Zero Covid has ended up failing to contain a virus and/or failing to accept that the costs of attempting to contain a virus have been exponentially worse than the benefits of containing the virus. The promised “cures” have been infinitely worse than the disease. There are no longer any “success stories” involving nations using tyrannical means in an attempt to stop a virus. Zero Covid, as any rational person could have predicted a long time ago, has failed in spectacular fashion.

Reprinted from the author’s blog

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Jordan Schachtel

Jordan Schachtel

Jordan Schachtel is an investigative journalist and foreign policy analyst based in Washington, D.C.

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