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Workers from a public service organization deliver vegetables to residents of a Shanghai neighborhood in lockdown on March 29. 

Workers from a public service organization deliver vegetables to residents of a Shanghai neighborhood in lockdown on March 29. 

Photographer: Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images

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The Big Take

China Crushed Covid. But Covid Zero Could Crush China

A new wave of infections is highlighting the growing cost of China’s zero-tolerance virus policy

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China’s Covid Zero strategy has been drastic and effective, saving lives and keeping the economy on track. But a new wave of virus cases is highlighting the growing costs of that approach – as well as the perils of any attempt to change it. 

Authorities are fighting to curb the spread of the omicron variant among a population that lacks natural immunity and only has access to home-grown vaccines that are less effective than some of the global alternatives. Shanghai – the country’s financial center – is locking down just weeks after the technology hub of Shenzhen was forced to do so.

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