China: Comparative Covid Response: Crisis, Knowledge, Politics China: Comparative Covid Response: Crisis, Knowledge, Politics

The Chinese party state deployed a broad range of epidemiological and informational control measures in response to the outbreak of Covid-19. Although Wuhan became the first epidemic epicenter due to a failure of China’s early warning system, subsequent measures almost completely suppressed the domestic spread of Sars-CoV-2. As of December 30, 2020, China has 96,592 confirmed infections and 4,784 Covid-19 fatalities, 65.7 cases and 3.3 deaths per million. Chinese media and public opinion now view the pandemic as a problem outside of Chinese borders. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) shifted its narrative from initially trumpeting an all-out “people’s war” against the virus towards celebrating the triumphant victory of the socialist model. Yet, official responses to the spread of Covid-19, including restrictions of international mobility and extensive surveillance measures, caused domestic controversies some of which challenged the government’s approach.