Chinese health authorities have given the first signs of a possible relaxation of their strict policies.”zero covidAfter a wave of angry protests against health restrictions and more freedoms.
China’s approach to the virusfaces new circumstances and new problems“, thanks to the less dangerous nature of the Omicron version and advances in vaccinations, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said in a speech before the National Health Commission (NHC) on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Beijing had already decided to accelerate the vaccination of the elderly, which is still not enough. Sun Chunlan, the central figure in China’s pandemic strategy, made no mention of politics.zero covidIn his words, according to the report of the New China state agency, instilling hope that this strategy, which has disrupted the daily life of Chinese people and the country’s economy for three years, will soon be eased.
Angered by repeated detentions and near-daily PCR tests, thousands of Chinese protested last weekend in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou or Wuhan, where the first cases were detected in December 2019. For the communists in power, this is the most popular channel of protest. Since the democratic mobilizations of Tiananmen in 1989. Taken by surprise, they called out.repressionto curb this movement, but also appears to show promise on the health policy front.
Living with “Covid”.
So in the industrial metropolis of Canton (south), where clashes pitted protesters and police on Tuesday, a lockdown that had been in place for several weeks was lifted despite record pollution numbers. Because if the numbers are indeed among the highest since the beginning of the epidemic, they remain insignificant; As of Thursday, there were 35,800 local cases out of a population of 1.4 billion and the vast majority of asymptomatic cases.
Restrictions have been eased to varying degrees in 11 districts in Guangzhou, including Haizhou, the epicenter of the rallies. Except for a few districts which are considered “high risk“, according to the Local Health Commission, “the rest are managed as low-risk areas“. The city of Chongqing (the center) also announced on Wednesday that contact cases meeting certain conditions would be allowed to self-quarantine at home, a clear change from the previous policy that forced all positive cases and contacts to go to a quarantine center.
These reliefs at the local level, along with Sun Chunlan’s announcements;could be a sign that China is beginning to consider the end of its strict zero-Covid policy“, – assess the analysts of ANZ Research in the note. “We believe that the Chinese authorities are moving to a strategy “living with covid»as the new rules show that people are allowed to self-isolate at home instead of being moved to quarantine centers.“, they add. On Thursday morning, two major Chinese newspapers published expert opinions to reassure the majority of cases that Covid is not dangerous, following similar publications in recent days that appear to be preparing the population for a change in mindset.
More freedoms
As we approach the third anniversary of the first cases in Wuhan, it’s clear that residents are fed up. A deadly fire in Urumqi, capital of the (northwest) Xinjiang region, was an element of weekend protests. Netizens are blaming health restrictions for preventing relief efforts. But protesters also chanted political demands, some even calling for the resignation of President Xi Jinping, who was extended last month for an unprecedented third term. The authorities’ tight control over travel information and health restrictions within China makes it difficult to estimate the total number of protesters in the country.
But such a widespread uprising is rare, given the suppression of any form of frontline opposition to the government. The 1989 rallies ended in bloody repression when the army intervened, notably in Beijing’s famous Tiananmen Square. On Wednesday, when the death of former President Jiang Zemin, who came to power just after Tiananmen was announced, the Communist Party rightly emphasized its ability to restore calm during this uprising.
Source: Le Figaro
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.