The Chinese authorities put an end, on December 7, to the intransigent zero Covid policy, in force for almost three years. The Chinese are no longer forced into repeated tests, isolation centers for the sick, and can now move freely in the country.
Since then, the number of contaminations has risen sharply, hospitals, morgues and crematoriums in Beijing are overwhelmed. It is nevertheless impossible to know the number of cases: the Chinese authorities have given up publishing the figures for contamination.
It is in this context that Beijing announced that tests and quarantine would be abolished for people entering the country, from January 8. The Chinese will thus be able to travel abroad and return to their country freely. But this news worries the international community, which fears the emergence of a new variant. China is also suffering from a shortage of medicines, which could have repercussions elsewhere in the world.
In this episode of the “L’Heure du Monde” podcast, Frédéric Lemaître, correspondent for the World in Beijing, recounts this epidemic outbreak of Covid-19 in China and its consequences, for this country and for others.
An episode of Adelaide Tenaglia. Directed by: Thomas Zeng. Music: Amandine Robillard. Presentation and editor-in-chief: Morgane Tual. In this episode: excerpts from the press conferences of the Chinese National Health Commission, December 7 and 27; the statement of the spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on December 21; statement by the Director General of the WHO on 21 December.
“The Hour of the World”
“L’Heure du Monde” is the daily news podcast of the World. Listen every day, from 6 a.m., to a new episode, on Lemonde.fr or on Spotify. Find all the episodes here.
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