Several Chinese cities are removing some preventive measures against Covid-19, signaling the gradual end of the ‘zero cases’ strategy, which kept the country isolated for nearly three years and affected the economy.
The lifting of the restrictions is being done informally, as the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s highest power, has not made any announcement. Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, in charge of the ‘Covid zero’ strategy, said just last week that the low virulence of the virus and the high vaccination rate among the population “created conditions” for the country to “adjust the measures against the pandemic”, since he is now “in a new situation”.
In Beijing, two people who tested positive for Covid-19 told the Portuguese agency that the PCR test result was not updated in the health code, the application used in China to access public or residential places. The two neighbors verified that they were infected after performing rapid tests at home, after experiencing symptoms of infection by the new coronavirus.
Until a week ago, those who tested positive for Covid-19 were taken to isolation in a quarantine center: makeshift facilities, with beds distributed in a common space, without showers and with bathrooms for hundreds or even thousands of people. Direct contacts were isolated in individual spaces: hotels or containers.
Any condominium where cases were diagnosed was closed for at least a week.
Shenzhen and Shanghai, two of the country’s main cities, also stopped requiring PCR test results from passengers to access public transport.
Several shopping centers and office buildings, however, continue to require the presentation of a negative result in a coronavirus test carried out in the previous 48 hours. Dozens of cities across the country also remain under strict lockdown measures.
Cities in the coastal province of Zhejiang (east), such as Ningbo or Hangzou, also announced that a negative PCR test is no longer mandatory to access transportation and enter public places, starting today.
The Ningbo authorities have declared that it will no longer be necessary to scan the QR code, a two-dimensional version of the barcode, placed at the entrance of all buildings, as well as in public transport or taxis, a common practice in the Asian country for almost two years to trace suspected cases and close contacts.
In a meeting with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, last Thursday, the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, acknowledged that at the end of December there were protests in several cities of the country against the measures to prevent the epidemic, as reported by the European authorities present at the meeting. meeting, quoted by the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post.
Xi blamed the protests on the “frustration” of students after three years of highly restrictive measures.
The Chinese leader acknowledged that Omicron is less deadly than previous variants of Covid-19, but that he was concerned about low vaccination rates among the elderly.
Beijing is now trying to restart the vaccination campaign. Only about 40% of people aged 80 and over received the necessary three doses of the Chinese Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines to achieve high levels of protection against Omicron.
Source: TSF
