Five years ago, a healthcare worker in Wuhan could not help but question, “Why didn’t the government inform us earlier about this? Why didn’t they advise us on prevention measures sooner? Why did it have to escalate to such severity?” She vividly remembered witnessing patients succumb to the novel coronavirus (CCP virus) infection, feeling a deep heartache.
During the peak of the Wuhan epidemic in 2020, many residents did not anticipate that the government would intentionally conceal information. Initially, they believed it was upper-level officials in the healthcare system hiding the truth. However, widespread lockdowns resulting in economic downturn prompted reflection, leading them to realize the government’s significant problems and possibly a hidden agenda orchestrated by the CCP.
Witnessing numerous elderly individuals lose their lives to the epidemic, a Wuhan healthcare worker named Zhang contemplated a disturbing thought— “The Communist Party released the virus so that these elderly people would die, enabling them to pay less in retirement benefits and allocate fewer funds for healthcare.”
Zhang disclosed to Dajiyuan that she had speculated about this idea even before the pandemic. With China facing serious aging demographics, a substantial portion of medical and retirement expenses are directed towards the elderly.
She recounted that before the pandemic, all chronic disease cases (including hypertension, diabetes) were redirected to community health service centers under the state’s decree. Patients no longer needed to visit hospitals.
According to the 2019 “Community Health Service Center Service Capacity Evaluation Guidelines” released by the CCP National Health Commission, community health service centers were tasked with managing the health risks of key populations continuously, including the elderly, hypertension and type 2 diabetes patients.
Zhang explained that amid the COVID-19 pandemic, all health service centers were shuttered. Consequently, elderly individuals with high blood sugar or hypertension couldn’t seek medical attention as they were neither allowed to go out nor provided transportation by communities for hospital visits, especially during winter when chronic diseases tend to exacerbate.
She lamented that elderly people without access to medication were in grave danger. Being infected with the CCP virus would overwhelm their frail bodies, causing rapid decline and often leading to an unknown death location.
As the epidemic spread nationwide, the CCP implemented extensive lockdown measures lasting for three years.
In the initial phase of the lockdown, the CCP enforced strict “absolute zero” policies but later shifted to a more flexible “dynamic zero” approach in August 2021. Residents were mandated to undergo regular nucleic acid testing, with infected individuals transferred to designated isolated facilities outside urban areas, known as “Fangcang,” achieving a “social zero” within cities.
Similar to Wuhan, “city lockdowns” played out in various regions nationwide, including Xi’an and Shanghai.
Reflecting on the three-year lockdown, Zhang and fellow Wuhan residents began noticing the timeline correlation between Xi Jinping’s quest for achievements and his third term prospects.
Xi Jinping first ascended as the CCP leader in November 2012 (reelected in 2017), became the state president in March 2013, and secured a second term in 2018. Subsequently, Xi Jinping amended the constitution in 2018, abolishing the two-term limit for the president and vice president.
Zhang conveyed that some domestic voices believed Xi Jinping enforced stringent controls for three years to secure reelection in 2023 for his own political gains. By confining the populace, Xi Jinping aimed to showcase his governance success, allowing him to remain in power. Revealing the true death toll could jeopardize his reelection and presidency.
In November 2022, a residential building fire in Urumqi, Xinjiang resulted in 19 fatalities due to stringent lockdown measures preventing residents from escaping. The nationwide outrage against extreme lockdowns and “dynamic zero” policies culminated in the “Blank Page Revolution,” with protesters demanding Xi Jinping’s resignation.
Subsequently, on December 6, 2022, the CCP abruptly announced the end of the “dynamic zero” policy, ushering in a comprehensive relaxation.
Unable to control the situation any longer, the CCP swiftly transitioned to a “coexistence with the virus” policy. In the following months, hospitals across China became overwhelmed, funeral homes saw long queues, and scenes of mourning and devastation shocked the world.
Zhang noted that many lives were lost when the government altered its approach, leading to increased mortality among the vulnerable population. Despite gaining an extra three years of life, the elderly population succumbed to the epidemic by the end of 2022 due to the abrupt policy change.
According to a CCP National Health Commission report dated January 14, 2023, during the 37-day period from December 8, 2022, to January 12, 2023, nearly 54,435 deaths were attributed to COVID-19 complications among individuals with underlying health conditions, accounting for about 91% of reported deaths. The average age of the deceased was 80.3 years, with individuals aged 65 and older comprising around 90% of the fatalities.
In late August 2023, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center released a study indicating an estimated over 1.87 million excess deaths among individuals above 30 years old across all Chinese provinces, excluding Tibet, from December 2022 to January 2023, surpassing normal mortality rates.
The exact number of Chinese individuals who perished or were infected during the epidemic remains a mystery.
In March 2020, mainland Chinese media reported a sudden decrease of over 14 million mobile phone users within two months, coinciding with the peak of the epidemic, sparking fears.
Recalling the peak of the Wuhan outbreak, Zhang recounted a tragic incident where a family of seven across three generations saw only the child survive as the grandparents, parents, and relatives succumbed to the virus.
Post-lockdown in Wuhan, the child accompanied by community workers went to collect the ashes of their deceased family members at the funeral home. Zhang vividly remembered the young child, aged around seven or eight, amid the heart-wrenching circumstances.
Even after five years, the memory of the child left Zhang with a deep sense of anguish and empathy. She shared the emotional turmoil of witnessing the child’s suffering, contemplating how she would cope if it were her own child in a similar situation.
In July 2022, a data breach in the Shanghai Public Security database revealed information on just 970 million Chinese residents, indicating a population below 1 billion, far less than the CCP’s official claim of 1.4 billion. Earlier reports hint that China may have lost around 400 million individuals during the three-year epidemic.
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