China on Monday announced the withdrawal of an app used to track residents’ movements and make sure they were not in an affected area, a new sign of a move away from a zero-Covid strategy.
It is called “Travel mapIt was based on a phone signal and allowed its users to prove to their interlocutor (hotel, office building, etc.) the places where they had been in the last seven days. The app would display a list of cities or even counties where the person had been. If none were classifiedhigh risk(in a large number of cases), the application displayed a green arrow synonymous with the authorized section.
The end of the “Zero Covid” strategy
there”Travel mapUnder the responsibility of the central government, it will be switched off from Tuesday morning midnight, more than two years after its launch, according to an official press release. The move comes less than a week after China announced a sudden and drastic easing of health measures, a very clear departure from its policy.”zero coviddesigned to prevent death.
On Wednesday, he specifically announced an end to mass detentions and the systematic placement of people who tested positive in quarantine centers in degraded facilities with highly variable comfort. Although the official number of new cases has decreased in recent days, it does not reflect the reality of the current epidemic wave. Because only PCR tests performed by laboratories are taken into account, and not self-tests performed in the privacy of one’s own home, which most residents do not announce.
One of China’s leading figures in the fight against Covid, respiratory disease specialist Zhong Nanshan, said on Sunday that the Omicron version is:spread rapidlynow in the country. there”Travel map“The national app, which was often used for interprovincial travel, ran alongside the local apps, which remain the main ones used on a daily basis to access restaurants, shops and buildings.
“Chow Chow! All this heralds the end of an era. And a brand new beginning…“On Monday, one of the users of the Weibo social network responded, in line with the general tone of the comments. Others wonder what will happen to the mass of data collected by the app. “I hope there are ways and means to turn it all off and delete it– emphasized one of the users.
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.