China announced on Sunday November 20 its first death from Covid-19 since May. He is an 87-year-old man, who died in Beijing, where the rise in the number of cases is gradually leading to the closure of establishments and businesses.
The Asian giant is the last major world economy to conduct a strict so-called “zero Covid” health policy, which consists of imposing confinements as soon as cases appear, mandatory quarantines for people who test positive and almost daily PCR tests to identify the transmission chains.
The Ministry of Health announced on Sunday more than 24,000 new positive cases in twenty-four hours in the country, the vast majority of which are asymptomatic. The large manufacturing province of Guangdong (south), where the metropolises of Canton and Shenzhen are located, is by far the most affected.
Closure of stores and telecommuting
In the capital, Beijing, 621 new cases have been identified. The man who died in Beijing had mild Covid, but his condition worsened following a bacterial infection, according to state broadcaster CCTV. This is officially the first death since the end of May.
Large shopping centers announced their closure on Sunday. Others have simply reduced their opening hours or banned table service in their restaurants. Several office buildings in the Chaoyang district, home to the business district and embassies, have asked companies to switch to telework. Parks, sports halls and gymnasiums have also closed. The authorities had called on Saturday to restrict movement “non-imperative” between the different districts of Beijing, in order to prevent the spread of the virus.
Weariness and contestation of health measures
Residents of Beijing are confined to their homes and others have been placed in quarantine in specific centers. But the authorities seem not to want to impose too strong restrictions for the moment on a population which expresses an immense weariness of the anti-Covid measures.
On the Chinese social network Weibo, similar to Twitter, comments under articles concerning the epidemic in Beijing were filtered, noted Agence France-Presse (AFP), probably in order to avoid too strong online protest against the sanitary measures.
China announced on November 11 a relaxation of its “zero Covid” health policy, with, in particular, the reduction of quarantines, in particular for international arrivals. A return to normal, however, remains a distant prospect, as confinements, quarantines and screenings continue to be imposed on a large scale. The metropolis of Guangzhou, for example, launched a general screening on Sunday in the central district of Haizhu, where about 1.8 million people live.