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by Martin Quin Pollard
BEIJING (Reuters) – Several Chinese cities, including Urumqi in the far west of the country, announced an easing of coronavirus restrictions on Sunday, following the example of other cities this week, as China strives to adjusting its ‘zero COVID’ policy after violent protests.
Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang region, will reopen shopping malls, markets, restaurants and other venues from Monday, authorities said, ending months of strict lockdowns.
Residents of the city of Zhengzhou, home to the world’s largest iPhone factory and rocked by violent protests last month, will no longer have to present drug test results to take transport public, taxis or even to go to “public areas”, authorities said on Sunday.
These tests will also no longer be necessary to take public transport in Shanghai, the economic capital, in Nanning, capital of Guangxi province, or in Wuhan, where the pandemic began in 2019.
These cities thus follow the example of Changdu and Tianjin or Shenzhen, in the south of the country.
Authorities in Haizhu district in Guangzhou city, where clashes erupted last month, said it was no longer necessary for people without symptoms to get tested, unless they belong to certain special groups, such as front-line workers.
On Saturday in Beijing, authorities said the purchase of medicine for fever, cough and sore throat no longer requires registration.
A BREATHLESS POLICY
Pride of President Xi Jinping, the “zero Covid” policy has reached its limits against a backdrop of a sharp economic slowdown and the impatience of the population while the rest of the world has more or less become accustomed to living with the virus.
It is at the origin of a wave of demonstrations unprecedented since the coming to power of Xi Jinping in 2012, and perhaps even since the uprising in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989, repressed in blood.
For now, the relaxation measures vary from region to region. But the communist regime is expected to announce changes to nationwide testing and allow positive cases and close contacts to self-isolate at home under certain conditions, the filing has.
Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chunlan, who oversees efforts to combat COVID-19, already said last week that the virus was less pathogenic, a shift in tone to align more with what many health authorities are saying. around the world for a year.
Some residents have denounced inconsistencies in the easing of restrictions, including the requirement in some places to present a negative COVID test while mass testing centers are closed.
In Beijing and Wuhan, this has caused long queues outside the few remaining testing centers.
Authorities said the number of daily new cases fell nationwide to 31,824, a drop that could be explained by the reduction in the number of tests. Authorities also reported two new deaths from COVID-19.
PREPARING FOR THE RELEASE OF “COVID ZERO”
Despite the easing of restrictions, many experts believe China was unlikely to begin a meaningful reopening before March, given the need to step up vaccinations, especially among its elderly population.
“While there are many changes locally in COVID policies lately, we do not interpret these as China’s abandonment of the ‘zero COVID’ policy,” Goldman Sachs said in a note on Sunday.
“Rather, we see them as clear evidence that the Chinese government is preparing for an exit, and trying to minimize the economic and social cost of its anti-COVID measures in the meantime. Preparations may last a few months and there will likely be challenges along the way,” the investment bank added.
Authorities recently announced they would be accelerating vaccinations for the elderly, but many remain reluctant to get vaccinated.
“Some people have doubts about the safety and efficacy of the new national coronavirus vaccine,” read an article in the People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official newspaper, on Sunday.
“Experts say this perception is wrong,” the article said, adding that domestically produced vaccines are safe.
Foreign vaccines are not approved in China and Xi Jinping is unwilling to reverse that policy, April Haines, director of U.S. national intelligence, said Saturday.
(Report by Martin Quin Pollard with the Beijing office, French version Caroline Pailliez)