Zero Covid is wavering – how to get out of the crisis
Australia and New Zealand have closed themselves off, but Delta is now questioning the strategy. Now they are looking forward to Singapore, where Zero Covid is currently being replaced by a new concept.
Tired of Zero Covid and Lockdowns: In Australia, opponents of the measures protested violently and fought street battles with the police.
Foto: James Ross (Keystone/AP)
Australia and New Zealand have sealed themselves off from the outside world since spring 2020, at least as far as the free movement of people is concerned. For a long time, even citizens and long-term residents were not allowed to enter or leave the country. To this day there are strict quarantine regulations, not for example at home in personal responsibility, as was done in Switzerland, but in “Medi-Hotels” that you have to pay for and guarded by yourself.
In addition, there were always large-scale lockdowns, sometimes a single corona case was enough to completely shut down a large city like Auckland or Sydney for several days. However, the residents supported this zero-covid strategy because it worked well for a long time. The containment worked, there was no wildfire, and between the short lockdown phases, Oceania enjoyed a life practically pandemic-free.
Almost like at the European Football Championship, only with more masks and without superspreading: spectators at a rugby match during corona-free times.
Foto: Darren England (Keystone/EPA)
In New Zealand tens of thousands of spectators crowded a rugby stadium when the corona numbers in Switzerland shot to dizzying heights in autumn 2020. While over 11,000 Covid deaths have already been counted here – 128 per 100,000 inhabitants – in Australia there are around 1,000 or 4 per 100,000 inhabitants. New Zealand has so far recorded 26 Covid deaths among its 5 million residents – this corresponds to 0.5 per 100,000 inhabitants. Thanks to Zero Covid, thanks to being an island.
Then Delta came along and the concept reached its limits. The variant is more contagious and spreads faster. Containing them is therefore more difficult, requires more testing effort and longer lockdowns. The New Zealanders are used to this by now, they know that the engine hums again as soon as the cases are back to zero. In the summer of 2021, the economy was back to pre-pandemic level, a nice reward for the privations of the forced closings. Actually, because now the strategy threatens to fail after all.
State is sealed off
In the Australian state of New South Wales around the metropolis of Sydney, the Delta seems out of control. The region will soon see three times more cases than there were across the country at the height of the second Australian wave in August 2020. There is a strict lockdown again, but there are also protests against it, demonstrations that degenerate into street battles with the police.
Almost like in Switzerland, only the cowbells are missing: Demonstration of measures in Melbourne in mid-August 2021.
Foto: James Ross (Keystone/AP)
Meanwhile, Delta has the rest of the country under control, which is why there are now travel bans not only at the national border, but also within Australia. New South Wales is isolated.
It is currently doubted whether the state will manage to return to zero again. Critics complain that the lockdown was implemented far too late. With the zero-covid strategy, a quick and complete shutdown of public life will be necessary, as Switzerland only knows from March 2020, everything, overnight. Every day of waiting makes the situation worse, and it is precisely this hesitation that has escalated the situation around Sydney.
New Zealand, on the other hand, has remained true to its concept. In mid-August, the British media gleefully ridiculed that the “expensive fantasy strategy” had failed on the other side of the world. But the kiwis are not giving up yet, at the moment the numbers have leveled off at the level of the first and until recently the only wave in spring 2020, it will soon become clear whether they will go back or not.
In whole numbers, New Zealand recorded 82 new infections on Thursday. For comparison: In Switzerland there was last in summer 2020 a phase with fewer than 100 new cases per day – over a year ago.
Empty streets again: The picture is not from March 2020, but from August 27, 2021. New Zealand is trying to exterminate Delta with a tough lockdown, including in Wellington’s financial district.
Foto: Nick Perry (Keystone/AP)
With the exception of the extensive isolation from the outside world, Zero Covid worked in Oceania. The most important goal of the governments and the population has been achieved, mortality is massively lower compared to Europe or America, and the economy is also doing well in both countries.
Singapore shows the way
Singapore is an example of how things can continue for them despite the delta hurdle. In Australia and New Zealand, the city-state is currently seen as a role model, as a way out of the crisis.
Singapore also pursued a zero-covid strategy and was also successful. There were 55 deaths among the almost six million inhabitants, around 1 per 100,000 inhabitants. The city sealed itself off with a rigorous quarantine for all travelers. There is also an electronic contact record using the TraceTogether app. 80 to 90 percent of the residents have installed these, others use a Bluetooth key fob.
Singapore introduced the TraceTogether app in March 2020, which is practically indispensable for life in the city.
Photo: Catherine Lai (AFP)
The highlight: Without the app or the key ring, life in Singapore is practically impossible, you have to check in with it everywhere, be it when shopping, in the office or in the restaurant. For people in the city-state, this process has practically been part of everyday life since the beginning of the pandemic, and contact tracing is thereby simplified and, above all, accelerated. In this way, the authorities cannot identify individual cases, but rather entire clusters and send all contact persons to quarantine.
Government does not keep promises
So the app helped with the strategy, but caused a huge scandal last January when it became known that the police should now also have access to certain movement data – in the event of specific suspicions and to investigate a crime. The government had promised for months that it would not do just that.
The app was therefore downloaded millions of times in Singapore, while many Western countries were only able to make their programs palatable to a few people precisely because of such privacy concerns. The protest in Singapore was huge, many would have liked to delete the app, but that would only have harmed yourself and restricted your life.
Now there is hope that the app will soon no longer be necessary because Singapore has ushered in the next phase of the pandemic: “Learn to live with Covid”, “Learn to live with Covid”. Case numbers and contact tracing are disappearing from the focus, instead Singapore wants to enable a normal life again – also for non-residents. The entry bans are being relaxed and tourists are welcome again.
Living with Covid: The normality mode is ignited in Singapore, and tourists should soon populate the city again.
Photo: Zen Soo (Keystone / AP)
However, only vaccinated people are allowed into the country, they should come in aircraft in which only vaccinated people fly. In cooperation with Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa also offers such flights from Frankfurt. However, this only applies to people who have previously been in Germany for at least three weeks, so this is not yet an option for travelers living in Switzerland.
Over 80 percent vaccinated
The new strategy in Singapore is made possible by a record vaccination rate. Over 80 percent are now double vaccinated, wrote the Minister of Health last Sunday. The city therefore dares to open up and only sees the danger from Corona and Delta as small. But it is also accepted that there will be cases and that people could die as a result, according to the government. But the majority of the population is now well protected, which makes it possible to live with Covid.
Meanwhile, the remaining unvaccinated people are not left to their own devices, but rather addressed specifically about their concerns. Most of the time, people would be afraid of the side effects. Since billions of people have already been vaccinated and there is a lot of data on this, those concerned could usually be reassured, says the Minister of Health.
Oceania has to catch up
For Australia and New Zealand, the example of Singapore is the way out of the months of isolation. In contrast to the economic metropolis in Southeast Asia, however, they completely missed the vaccination train and put on eradication for too long.
Now the oceanic states are catching up, despite the delayed start, more than 50 percent have now received a first dose, around 25 to 30 percent have been vaccinated twice. The two big ones, Australia and New Zealand, also provide vaccines for the small island states. And they get vaccines from their new role model – Singapore has just shipped 500,000 cans to Australia.
According to current calculations, 70 percent will have been vaccinated twice by the end of October. Since the vaccination rate will also decrease in Oceania, the assessment of the authorities is probably more realistic, there is talk of the end of the year. Until then, the Australians and New Zealanders must at least still live in their isolation. The experiences that Singapore has made in these months with its “life with Covid” and predominantly vaccinated people should then show whether the envisaged path works.
Vaccinate what it takes: In Australia, people are still queuing to get vaccinated.
Photo: Joel Carrett (Keystone/EPA)
An app from Singapore has already been adopted in Oceania. Quarantine surveillance is currently being tested in the state of South Australia, on a voluntary basis. The app gives Australians willing to travel some freedom back. It allows you to spend the quarantine in your own home instead of in a paid hotel or quarantine center. The previous options had a massive impact on the travel budget, with the app these restrictions are no longer applicable.
So that the authorities can continue to ensure that the quarantine is adhered to, the app checks at randomly selected times using GPS data and facial recognition whether the person is also at the selected quarantine location. This check-in must be done within 15 minutes, otherwise the authorities will be alerted and you will receive a call or even a visit from the contact tracing team.
Andreas Frei has been an online site manager at the Tamedia editorial team since 2017. Before that he was a journalist for “Zürcher Unterländer” and wrote about Zurich Airport and the region. From 2008 to 2011 he completed his bachelor’s degree in journalism at the ZHAW in Winterthur.
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