China was the first country to come up with lockdown measures, however, I don't recall them being so harsh. This situation has gone out of control, the measures weren't so absurdly strict, they're dragging people out of their homes and euthanizing pets, that's ridiculous.
In early 2020, people were being sealed in their homes. There are reports of some people starving to death.
The Chinese government controls what information leaves its country the overwhelming majority of the time. I don't think it is an accident that specific videos about the lockdowns are "leaking" to the outside world now.
In early 2020, Chinese citizens were locked inside their apartments, and people starved to death. The "lockdowns" employed by the West was something exported from China. Prior to covid, "lockdowns" were not considered to be something health officials considered to prevent the spread of contagious viruses.
Lockdowns actually work, just not in any colloquial sense or under democratic republics. If you can physically isolate people within their homes and enforce isolation, then the virus can't spread. The issue with any lockdown the West tried was people were still mobile. People still went to the grocery store, to work, out with friends etc and then most transmission would end up happening in the home. The CCP, like with most communists, are okay with letting people die and violating basic human rights, so confining people to their homes and not allowing them to leave even to go to the grocery store was as close to a true lockdown as possibly obtainable. China lied about their numbers, but there was reporting when Wuhan and other regions went into lockdown and when cities began opening up again back in 2020. Seemed like China may be successful in their lockdown strategy as long as they can drive people to to near suicide by physical isolation. If people starve to death, that's just a bonus to them.
To think there were authoritarians that wanted to adopt China's method.
No, I don't think the lockdowns ever worked in China.
Even in China, people are allowed to go out to get groceries, although it is regulated. China is more densely populated, so if one person is infected in an apartment building, there is the potential that many others will also get infected via the ventilation system. If one person is infected goes to the grocery store, others at the store may also get infected, and they may spread the virus to others in their own apartment building.
There are also too many other means of transmission that lockdowns will not prevent. For example, the Chinese economy relies too heavily on exports to not allow people from entering into the country (and into certain areas) to pick up goods intended for export. These people can potentially transmit covid to others.
