In a haze of disinfectant, China struggles with invisible enemy

Workers wearing protective gear unload boxes from a truck during a Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown in the Jing'an district in Shanghai on May 13, 2022. - AFP

SHANGHAI, May 14, 2022 (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.