China’s Leaders Refuse to Take Covid ‘Lying Flat’

China’s Leaders Refuse to Take Covid ‘Lying Flat’

International and Arab News

In the US and Europe, the phrase “living with the virus” refers to reopening the economy and trusting that vaccines work. Not in China. In the public discourse, that would be tantamount to “lie flat,” a catchphrase for encouraging inaction — an approach that has grown so popular that it drew a condemnation from President Xi Jinping last year.

The “lie flat” philosophy proposes doing the bare minimum to get by — and China is having none of it. Local governments have taken the offensive to contain outbreaks of the hyper-infectious omicron variant. To them, doing nothing is scarier than Covid.

Consider Shanghai, the economic hub with a population of 25 million that has been at a standstill since late March. Its case numbers have been growing exponentially, and almost all are asymptomatic. But city leaders aren’t willing to let the virus run its course — even as residents’ patience wears thin. “We must dare to draw our swords and fight,” the top party branch in Shanghai wrote to members late Wednesday, the same day the number of new cases in the city rose to more than 19,900.

The government thinks it still has a narrow window to contain the