A propaganda gift for Xi Jinping | ZEIT ONLINE

In Germany, we fear that the country will become a second Italy, China on the other hand, the government has been trumpeting for days with miraculous figures:
Beijing National Health Commission on Tuesday announced 19 new ones
Corona cases across the country. 17 of them in the ringed province of Hubei
and two cases "re-imported" from abroad into the capital and
Guangdong Province.

So if you believe the official numbers,
For the third time in a row, there are no new local infections outside of China
from Hubei. 12 out of 14 in Wuhan were now temporary
Closure of mass quarantine stores. In the other two dwellings
there are just over a hundred patients, it is said.

The source of the danger has changed
relocated to international airports in the country: from Italy, Iran,
South Korea and elsewhere dozens of travelers do it Virus back to
People's Republic. Gansu province in northern China reported 28 "re-imports"
Iran. Seven overseas Chinese were found on the east coast of Zhejiang Province
tested positive who returned from the region of Bergamo, in the north of Italy
were where the group worked together in a restaurant. In Zhejiang, travelers from countries such as Italy, South Korea, Iran and other countries severely affected by the virus will be placed in a quarantine facility. State for two weeks as of this week.

In Beijing, Shanghai and others
Chinese metropolises are governed by the rule: if you are traveling from abroad, you must
14 days home quarantine. Authorities scan each plane after
Landing on cough and fever passengers. To millions of Chinese
those living abroad, the government has appealed in the coming weeks
please do not make home visits.

Can you trust China's figures?

In one
ironically, China is now isolating itself from the world after the world
China first isolated. That the communist leadership suddenly played
can turn around is a propaganda gift for the regime. Your new message
is: We have the epidemic under control through mass quarantine,
monitoring and collective discipline. And maybe that is how Beijing insinuates
Diplomats recently, virus does not come from China: "We are trying
Still trying to determine the origin of the epidemic, "said the spokesperson on Twitter.
from the Chinese Foreign Ministry at the end of last week. Embassy of Beijing in Australia has already sent emails to journalists demanding that the virus not just come from China.

After the picture
the People's Republic through the initial concealment and stubbornness of its
Behrden has suffered serious damage, Beijing now shows
Fingering on others and trying its draconian epidemic measures
to market as a model: "Some countries react too slowly to the virus",
commented on the party organ Global Times. Nationalist post influencers
under the hashtag "The Chinese method is the only method of success
shows ".

Indeed
The rapid epidemic of the virus worldwide shows that there is no incompetence
knows ideological boundaries: also in Germany and the United States,
As at the beginning in China, too little tested, the authorities have provided valuable information
Weeks go unused, in which health systems would have been
can prepare better. How far democracies can and will
Coercive measures to impose on their populations and if the means
China in the world as a solution presents compliant applications
Curfews and traffic light codes that allow access to
Quasi-strangers in public places are no worse than this
The plague, however, is the issue.

It is not clear either
if trust the miraculous numbers in China. From the People's Republic only
Infected in case statistics showing symptoms of illness
suppose the undisclosed number of those who tested positive is much higher,
what it looks like During the last Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chunlan
Thursday, visited a building in the metropolis of Wuhan
Progress in the fight against epidemics hailed residents of balconies
on the upper floors "All wrong!" For a real drop in
The epidemic, on the other hand, speaks: A large number of people are believed to be
China continued to carry the virus, new ones remained
Clusters of epidemics will certainly not go unnoticed for long.