China is finally easing its brutal “zero-Covid” policies after nearly a week of the biggest uprising in decades.
Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, who is overseeing the COVID efforts, signaled the change on Wednesday as numerous regions also began lifting lockdowns, which had forced people into state facilities and shut down entire cities in just one case detected
Speaking to the National Health Commission, Sun said it was time to change the approach nearly three years after the contagion was first detected in Wuhan.
“The country is facing a new situation and new tasks of epidemic prevention and control as the pathogenicity of the Omicron virus weakens, more people are vaccinated and experience is accumulated in containing the virus,” Sun said. in comments reported to the state media.
The relaxation comes after nearly three years of brutal lockdowns that see entire cities shut down for even a single case.Getty Images
Sun also urged further “optimization” of testing, treatment and quarantine policies, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Unusually, there was no mention of the country’s core “zero-COVID” approach, and the acknowledgment of the risk of debilitation was a stark contrast to the signaling for most of the past three years.
Sources told Reuters that official announcements of further policy changes at the national level would be made in the coming days.
“Sun’s speech, in addition to the notable easing of COVID control measures … sends another strong signal that the zero-COVID policy will end in the coming months,” Nomura analysts said in a research note
“These two events may point to the beginning of the end of zero-COVID.”
Several cities announced an end to measures that include daily testing.Getty Images
Analysts at ANZ Research also told Agence France-Presse that the observations “could signal that China is beginning to consider the end of its strict zero COVID policy”.
“We believe that the Chinese authorities are shifting to a position of ‘living with COVID’, as reflected in new rules that allow people to do ‘home isolation’ instead of being transported to quarantine facilities” , analysts said.
The changes have already allowed more freedom in several areas, including Guangzhou, where 24 hours earlier protesters clashed with riot police. CNS/AFP via Getty Images
The change came after protests that began last week quickly turned from anger over the policies to calls for President Xi Jinping to step down.
Since then, there have been 51 protests in 24 cities, according to the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy, the most since the 1989 uprising calling for democracy ended in bloodshed in Tiananmen Square.
The historic uprising had 51 protests in 24 cities.ASPI
Late on Tuesday, protesters clashed with police wearing hazmat suits in Guangzhou, one of the areas that later lifted temporary lockdowns within 24 hours of the alarming scenes.
Authorities in at least seven districts in the sprawling manufacturing hub said they were lifting temporary lockdowns, with one allowing schools, restaurants and businesses, including movie theaters, to reopen.
Cities such as Chongqing and Zhengzhou also announced relief.
The Chinese capital, Beijing, also said it would reduce daily testing requirements, a tedious mainstay of life under zero-Covid.
Seniors, those who work from home, online education students and teachers and others who don’t leave their homes frequently are now exempt from the daily tests, officials said Wednesday.
Beijing residents still require a negative COVID test taken within 48 hours to enter public places such as cafes, restaurants and shopping malls.
With a heavy police presence in many cities, there were no signs of protests on Thursday.
The easing of restrictions comes despite China battling its worst COVID-19 outbreak in three years, having previously credited a “zero-Covid” approach to containing the contagion.
The country reported 35,800 domestic cases of COVID on Thursday, most of them asymptomatic.
With post cables
