Sunday Times E-Paper

In a haze of disinfectant, China struggles with invisible enemy

SHANGHAI, May 14, (AFP) - Leaving a fine mist of disinfectant in their wake, China's hazmat- clad health workers are cleaning homes, roads, parcels and even people -- but more than two years into the pandemic, experts say it is a futile measure against Covid-19.

China is tied to a zero- Covid strategy, wielding snap lockdowns, mass testing and lengthy quarantines as part of unrelenting efforts to quash virus outbreaks no matter the cost to the economy or freedoms of its people.

Among its arsenal of virus controls is disinfectant spraying. Footage shows legions of “big whites” -- as health workers in hazmat suits are referred to in China -- spraying apartments with a virus-killing haze after inhabitants have been taken into state quarantine.

But such labour-intensive campaigns are pointless against a virus that spreads through droplets expelled in coughs and sneezes into the air, experts told AFP.

“The widespread use of some chemical disinfectants, such as chlorine disinfectant, could have harmful impacts on human health ( and) the environment.” Leong Hoe Nam, an infectious disease

expert at Singapore's Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, said outdoor disinfection was “absolutely pointless.” “The Chinese phrase is ' drawing feet on a snake' -- superfluous,” he told AFP.

THE SUNDAY TIMES 2

en-lk

2022-05-15T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-15T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://sundaytimes.pressreader.com/article/282213719421331

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