Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chunlan has said that the low pathogenicity of the virus and the high vaccination coverage of more than 90% of the population, among other things, have “created the conditions” for the country to “adapt anti-pandemic measures”. in “a new situation”.
Cities like Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen or Chongqing are started easing some of their anti-covid restrictions after the government stated that “the conditions are in place to adapt measures”, although it has made clear there will be no “total opening”.
Cantondespite experiencing weeks of regrowth yielding thousands of new cases daily, a relative reopening that began mid-week continues and has already it is not necessary to show a negative PCR result to enter the devices in some neighborhoods. The outbreak in Canton shows a number of infections that would have inevitably led to general confinement in the past, such as those in the cities of Wuhan, Shanghai or Xian, among others.
However, the city of more than 10 million has reopened shopping malls, restaurants and public transportation, deviating from policies China has been pursuing for more than two years.
In recent days, Chinese netizens have even shared videos of the city government’s press conferences, in which spokespersons and officials remove their masks before the conference, signaling an adjustment to the “zero covid” policy.
Meanwhile the neighbor Shenzhen announced that today it is no longer necessary to show a negative PCR result to use public transport or to enter parks and tourist attractionsalthough it must be verified through a monitoring application that it has not passed through an area considered to be at risk.
For its part, the central megalopolis of chongqingwith more than 30 million inhabitants in a municipal area larger than that of Panama, recently announced will allow some close contacts of infected people to self-quarantine at homewhich represents a significant change from current policies during these years.
Also since yesterday it is not necessary to show a negative PCR result to use public transportation in Beijing and authorities have stated that hospitals cannot refuse entry to patients who do not have a negative nucleic acid test.
China’s “zero covid” policy
The directive of “zero covid”, what China has been clinging to for more than two years consists of isolating all infected and their close contacts, strict border controls, partial or complete confinement in places where cases are discovered, and constant PCR testing on the urban population.
Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chunlan, charged with overseeing the “zero covid” policy, said this week that the low pathogenicity of the virus and the high vaccination coverage of more than 90% of the populationhave, among other things, “created the conditions” for the country to “adapt measures against the pandemic”, as it is in “a new situation”.
The government of China only officially acknowledges 5,233 deaths from covid in the country during the entire pandemic.
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Source: EITB
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
