Several Chinese cities relaxed this Friday the anti-covid measures that sparked protests throughout the country and the president himself, Xi Jinping, gave the go-ahead to these initiatives, alleging that the current wave of the pandemic is “less lethal” than the previous ones.
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“Now the epidemic in China is basically omicron, less lethal, and (…) that opens up the possibility of more opening in the restrictions,” Xi told European Council President Charles Michel in Beijing on Thursday, according to European officials. .
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The discontent over the government’s draconian health strategy generated protests last weekend of a magnitude unprecedented in decades in the communist country.
The authorities reacted quickly to quell the movement, with a significant police deployment and reinforced surveillance on social networks.
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The protests, according to Xi, are due to the “frustration” of the population, and especially of the young, after three years of the pandemic. The Chinese “are frustrated,” Xi said.
“They were mainly students or teenagers at the university. That is the explanation that was given,” said a senior European official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
China is the last major economy that maintains the “zero covid” strategy, with confinements, extensive quarantines and massive tests to eradicate sources of infection as soon as they appear.
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But Vice Premier Sun Chunlan told the National Health Commission on Wednesday that the way to deal with the virus was “under new circumstances.”
A central figure in China’s pandemic strategy, Sun insisted that the omicron variant was less dangerous and claimed that the vaccination rate had improved, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Following the protests, several cities began to ease restrictions and some members of the government signaled a possible easing at the national level.
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“We are pleased that the Chinese authorities are adjusting their current strategy and calibrating control measures” based on various factors, the director of emergencies of the World Health Organization (WHO), Michael Ryan, declared this Friday at a press conference. in Geneva.
home quarantine
In theory, anyone infected with covid in china must be isolated in a quarantine center. Although it seems that this is changing, sporadic demonstrations are still reported in the country against this policy.
Several health experts supported in a column published by the official People’s Daily the measures taken by local authorities to allow positive cases to quarantine at home.
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We are pleased that the Chinese authorities are adjusting their current strategy and calibrating control measures.
Responsible for several neighborhoods in the Chaoyang district, in Beijing, indicated that this measure was already applied in their sector.
The industrial city of Dongguan (south) announced on Thursday that people with “specific conditions” must be allowed to stay at home during isolation. These conditions were not specified.
The technological megalopolis of Shenzhen (south) began to apply such a policy on Wednesday.
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The inhabitants of Beijing will be able to take the bus or the subway from Monday without having to present a negative PCR test result of less than 48 hours, the mayor’s office announced on Friday. Only a green health pass will be necessary, which confirms that no “high-risk” area was crossed.
The same measure was implemented on Friday in Chengdu (southwest).
Hospitals, hotels and restaurants
In the capital, the health authorities asked hospitals on Thursday to stop rejecting patients who do not have a negative PCR test of less than 48 hours.
In China there have been several deaths due to delays in medical treatment caused by anti-covid measures.
These deaths became topical again in the weekend demonstrations. On social networks, a message with the names of people who died due to negligence due to sanitary restrictions went viral.
(In context: Protests multiply in China against the ‘zero covid’ policy)
Many other cities, nevertheless affected by new coronavirus outbreaks, began to authorize the reopening of restaurants, shopping centers and schools.
In Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region (northwest), where a deadly fire broke out that sparked the first protests, the authorities announced on Friday that supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and ski resorts would open gradually.
AFP
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