Say no more Covid-19. In China, Gu Xiaohong, head of the infectious diseases branch of the Chinese Medical Association, urged Xi Jinping’s government to change the name of the disease, to illustrate its lesser danger after three years of pandemic.
A call that is part of a profound change in doctrine by Chinese officials in the management of Covid-19. Until then, Beijing maintained an authoritarian approach, with massive tests of its population and the mandatory isolation of positive people in closed centers with more than summary comfort.
But given the discontent of its population in recent weeks, which has been expressed in demonstrations unprecedented since the Tiananmen riots in 1989 due to its magnitude, the Chinese government has been forced to change its approach. Chinese citizens were particularly revolted by the death of several people in a building fire, after the arrival of aid was delayed by drastic measures to control the epidemic.
A simple infectious disease
In the state-controlled media Beijing Daily, Gu Xiaohong said the Chinese name for Covid-19, which currently refers to a disease that causes pneumonia, should become a more general term, simply mentioning that it is an infectious disease.
He also indicated that positive patients with moderate symptoms should be able to isolate themselves at home, and no longer in closed centers. Gu Xiaohong said China’s approach to the pandemic should shift from passive detection to active prevention.
The Chinese Medicine Association of which he is a member has even reached an agreement to find a new name for Covid.
Relaxation of measures
The words of this important Chinese medical authority echo the change in tone observed in the media controlled by Beijing, which in recent days have begun to evoke the lesser danger of Covid-19. The state news agency Xinhua said on Monday that the most difficult period was over.
On Wednesday, the Chinese government translated into action these changes in position on the disease, which many observers link to the recent protests. According to the new instructions released by the National Health Commission, asymptomatic and mild cases will be allowed to isolate at home and the frequency of tests will be reduced, particularly when traveling from one Chinese province to another.
Source: BFM TV
