Mr. Ceng, 50, black cap and jacket, tanned, is preparing to return home for the first time since the pandemic began. A simple rucksack for all luggage, he waits for his wife, sheltered from the light rain at the entrance to a metro entrance from which flows a continuous stream of travelers heading towards the vast glass building of the station. from Shanghai. At the entrance, a loudspeaker reminds them to present their “health QR code” to employees wrapped in full suits.
Originally from Huainan, in Anhui, three hours by TGV northwest of Shanghai, Mr. Ceng, a building caretaker, has not seen his daughter and her parents for two years: “Last year, my employer wouldn’t let us leave Shanghai, because the epidemic was more serious,” he explains. On the eve of the Lunar New Year this year, China is calling for caution, but is letting its population loose a little, despite outbreaks of the Omicron variant, under control for the moment.
Even if it means sending sometimes contradictory messages: some cities offer hundreds of yuan in subsidies and vouchers to migrant workers who do not return home, notably in Guangdong and Zhejiang, two manufacturing provinces which attract millions of immigrants. But many have ignored pleas from authorities and returned sometimes weeks before the official holidays, which last from New Year’s Eve, Monday January 31, to February 7, to avoid possible restrictions.
Local authorities under pressure
Other localities impose two-week quarantines on those who return to spend the holidays with their families, for a simple case in their city. The government calls for action: “Some localities do not allow people from low-risk areas to return, or force them to go through paid quarantine hotels. This provokes strong reactions from the public,” noted Mi Feng, spokesperson for the National Health Commission, at a press conference on Saturday, January 29. He called on local authorities to “Do not impose arbitrary restrictions, so that people can enjoy a happy, peaceful and healthy Spring Festival.”
But the local authorities are under pressure: in the event of an epidemic outbreak, they are the ones who will be held responsible, like these twenty-six civil servants in Xi’an, punished at the end of December for “lack of rigor in disease prevention and control”. However, the strict confinement of the city for a month has aroused strong dissatisfaction and criticism against a cookie-cutter health policy. In general, larger and more developed cities show more restraint in restrictions while areas with less means try to protect themselves with heavier restrictions.
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