In ‘COVID-Zero’ China, paranoia thrives as tourism withers

As the Delta variant of the coronavirus spreads to more than half of China’s provinces, the whole country hunkers down while economic forecasts go south.

Shenzhen, China – August was supposed to have been the biggest travel month of the year outside of the Lunar New Year holiday period for most families in China. The beaches, resorts, hotels and theme parks were expected to be full. Then new COVID-19 outbreaks, sparked by the introduction of the Delta variant of the coronavirus in the city of Nanjing late last month, brought most travel and tourism to a standstill. China’s “COVID-zero” strategy of eliminating any cases in the country has now put millions under lockdown or limited their movement as local governments restrict travel regardless of whether cases have popped up in their jurisdictions or not.