China’s Guangdong Spent $22 Billion on Zero-COVID in 3 Years

Inbound travelers waiting for hours to board buses to leave for quarantine hotels and facilities from Guangzhou Baiyun Airport in southern China's Guangdong province on Dec. 25 2022. The Canadian Press/AP, Emily Wang Fujiyama

Three years under the Chinese Communist Party’s zero-COVID policy is a disaster to local finances.

Southern China’s Guangdong Province directly spent $22 billion on the central government’s COVID containment measures, such as mass testing and forced vaccination, over the last three years.