"It's almost certainly worth it to kill one rule-breaker, if it gets others to follow the rules."

Did you read the article?

They've stopped importing food out of the fear that the virus may come with it.

So they'll starve to death. But no one will be dying from COVID.

But that's a good thing. Preventing COVID deaths is the new hotness? Deaths from other causes? They're still OK. The price to pay in order to prevent people from dying of COVID.