Analysis: Local Authorities’ Blind Spots Highlight China’s Delicate Covid Balancing Act

Blind spots in China’s zero-tolerance approach to Covid-19 highlight the urgent need for local governments to improve efficiency while cutting through red tape and minimizing the impact on people’s daily lives.

The country is battling its worst outbreak since the early days of the pandemic, after it employed stringent control measures to largely manage the virus for two years. Since the start of March, more than 20,000 local cases, mostly of the fast-spreading omicron variant, have been recorded across China, and millions of residents are in lockdown, according to authorities.