China eases ‘covid zero’ policy restrictions and ends negative test requirement

After giving in to the demonstrations and announcing that it would ease the zero covid policy, present for almost three years in the country, the China further reduces the rules this Monday, 5. The capital Beijing, where many companies are in full operation, no longer requires a negative covid test taken in the last 48 hours for the person to have access to public transport. In Shanghai, the financial center of the country that this year faced a two-month confinement, residents returned to frequenting open spaces, such as parks and tourist areas, without the need to present a recent test result. From Tuesday, the measure will be extended to a large number of public places, except medical centers, hospitals, schools, restaurants, bars and nursing homes.

The city of Hangzhou went further and ended the large-scale testing campaign for its 10 million residents, except for those who are visiting the area or for those who attend nursing homes, schools and kindergartens. Authorities in Wuhan, the first city to detect the coronavirus in 2019, and Shandong on Sunday eliminated testing requirements for using public transport. And Zhengzhou, home to the largest iPhone factory in the world, also ended the need for a less than 48-hour Covid test to allow access to public places, public transport and residential buildings. In the city of Urumqi (northwest of the country), where a fire that caused 10 deaths catalyzed the wave of protests against the confinements, supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and ski centers reopened their doors this Monday.

The Chinese decision was praised by the World Health Organization (WHO)🇧🇷 With the easing of the measures, the Chinese state press, which has always highlighted the dangers of covid, decided to change its tone, after the easing of the measures. The economic newspaper Yicai cites the argument of an unnamed health expert that the strict health rules must be relaxed. “Most of those infected are asymptomatic and the mortality rate is very small,” said the specialist. The Chinese National Health Commission (NHC) establishes disease categories according to mortality and contagion rates. The easing of the zero covid policy comes at a time when China has been registering high numbers of cases, this Monday, for example, there were 29,724.

*With information from AFP