China’s zero Covid strategy is a threat to the global economy

Aside from deterring a few tourists, and people filming fantasy epics, closing down New Zealand during the Covid pandemic didn’t make much difference to the global economy. Neither, come to think of it, did Mark Drakeford’s determination to keep Wales free from Covid-19, and even Australia’s dedication to closing itself down didn’t matter that much as long as the mines stayed open. For most of the last two years ‘zero Covid’ policies have mainly affected the people unfortunate enough to live under them and those trapped from returning home.

But China? That is something different. And right now Beijing’s almost certainly doomed attempt to crush the virus is as much of a threat to the global economy as the war in Ukraine.

With strict lockdown, tracking and tracing, and lots of propaganda, China just about managed to keep Covid-19 under control as it raged through the rest of the world.