© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Epidemic workers wearing protective suits prepare to enter a building that has been locked down as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues in Beijing, December 2, 2022. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
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This is Brenda Goh
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Residents of Beijing on Saturday cheered the removal of COVID-19 testing centers while Shenzhen said it would no longer require travelers to provide test results to travel, as China’s virus easing continues.
While daily cases are nearing all-time highs, some cities are taking steps to ease COVID-19 testing requirements and quarantine rules as China looks to bring its zero-covid-19 policies into focus amid the economic downturn and public dismay. it’s too much. in chaos.
The southern city of Shenzhen announced that it will no longer require people to show negative COVID-19 results to use public transport or enter parks, following the steps of Chengdu and Tianjin.
Many testing centers in the Chinese capital Beijing have also been closed, as the city stops looking for negative results as a way to enter places like supermarkets and plans to use subways from Monday. Many other places including offices still require testing.
A video showing workers in Beijing removing a test site with a truck-mounted crane went viral on Chinese social media on Friday.
“This should have been taken down long ago!” said one commenter. “He was banished from history,” said another.
Reuters could not confirm the observations. But in the remaining buildings, residents grumbled about hours-long lines to get tested because of the closure.
CHINA OUTLIER
Three years on from the pandemic, China has been gaining traction around the world with its lenient approach to COVID that has seen it impose lockdowns and frequent virus testing. It says these measures are necessary to save lives and avoid overburdening its health system.
China began to change its approach last month, encouraging regions to be more sensitive. The initial efforts, however, were marked by confusion and widespread gridlock as cities scrambled to contain the mounting cases.
Then a deadly house fire last month in the western city of Urumqi sparked mass protests against the COVID curbs in an uproar not seen in China since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012.
REDUCTION OF OTHERS TO COME
China is expected to announce further reductions in testing and allow positive people and their neighbors to stay at home for some time, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier this week.
Xi, in a meeting with European Union officials in Beijing on Thursday, criticized the large-scale protests by young people frustrated by the age of the COVID-19 epidemic, but said that the Omicron version of the virus, which is now widespread, opened the door to limited restrictions, EU officials said. he said.
Officials have just begun to downplay the risks of Omicron, a major change in communications in a country where the fear of COVID has reached its peak.
On Friday, some areas of Beijing published guidelines on social media on how to house well-documented cases, a move widely seen as a relaxation of the government’s advice to send such people into isolation.
However, this relief has also been accompanied by concern, especially for groups who feel they have the disease.
And many experts say they still don’t expect a grand reopening until March next year, citing China’s need to meet the results of a vaccine targeting the elderly it has just introduced.
Estimates of how many people China could see if it reopens fully range from 1.3 million to 2 million, although some researchers have said the number of deaths could be significantly reduced if there is interest in vaccination.
“None of this should be interpreted as a necessary change from the zero-COVID policy but an effort to make it easier and cheaper. , referring to the improvement of recent policies.
“Another way to allow the virus to spread before more elderly people receive vaccinations and more medical care could result in more deaths than many Asian countries that have reopened in the past, undermining China’s zero-COVID success,” he said.
China reported 32,827 new cases of COVID-19 on December 2, down from 34,772 the day before. As of Friday, China reported 5,233 deaths from COVID-19 and 331,952 symptomatic cases.
