BEIJING, Dec 1 (Portal) – China is softening its tone on the severity of COVID-19 and easing some coronavirus restrictions, even as the daily number of cases hovers near record highs after fury over the world’s toughest curbs has fueled protests across the country.
Several cities in the world’s second-largest economy, while still reporting new infections, are breaking with practice by lifting county lockdowns and allowing businesses to reopen.
The health officials, who announced the easing of restrictions, made no mention of the protests, which have ranged from candlelight vigils in Beijing to clashes with police on the streets of Guangzhou on Tuesday and at an iPhone factory in Zhengzhou last week.
The demonstrations were the largest demonstration of civil disobedience in mainland China since President Xi Jinping took power a decade ago and come as the economy looks set to enter a new era of much slower growth than in decades.
Despite near-record-breaking case numbers, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, who is overseeing the COVID effort, said the virus’s ability to cause disease was weakening, state media reported.
“The country is facing a new situation and new tasks in epidemic prevention and control as the pathogenicity of omicron virus becomes weaker, more people are vaccinated, and experience of virus containment is gained,” Sun said in comments published published in state media.
Sun also pushed for further “tweaking” of testing, treatment and quarantine policies.
The mention of diminishing pathogenicity contrasts with previous reports by authorities of the lethality of the virus.
CHANGE RULES
Less than 24 hours after violent protests swept Guangzhou, authorities in at least seven districts in the sprawling manufacturing hub north of Hong Kong announced they were lifting temporary lockdowns. One district said it would allow in-person classes to resume in schools and would reopen restaurants and other businesses, including movie theaters.
Some changes are implemented with little fanfare.
A community of a thousand people in east Beijing is allowing infected people with mild symptoms to self-isolate at home, according to new rules issued by the neighborhood committee and seen by Portal.
Neighbors on the same floor and three floors above and below the home of a positive case should also be quarantined at home, a committee member said.
That’s a far cry from quarantine protocols earlier in the year, when entire communities were locked down, sometimes for weeks, after even one positive case was found.
Another community nearby is conducting an online survey this week about the possibility of isolating positive cases at home, local residents said.
“I certainly welcome our community’s decision to hold this vote regardless of the outcome,” said resident Tom Simpson, executive director for China at the China-Britain Business Council.
He said his main concern was being forced to go to a quarantine facility where “conditions can be grim to say the least”.
Prominent nationalist commentator Hu Xijin said in a social media post on Wednesday that many asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus in Beijing are already being quarantined at home.
The southwestern city of Chongqing will close contacts of people with COVID who meet certain conditions that allow home quarantine, while central China’s Zhengzhou announced the “orderly” resumption of businesses, including supermarkets, gyms and restaurants.
National health officials said this week that authorities were responding to “urgent concerns” from the public and that COVID rules should be implemented with more flexibility depending on a region’s conditions.
REOPENING NEXT YEAR?
Expectations have grown around the world that China, while still trying to contain infections, could reopen sometime next year once it achieves better vaccination rates among its elderly.
Health experts warn of widespread illness and death if COVID is unleashed before vaccination ramps up.
Chinese stocks and markets around the world initially plummeted after the weekend protests in Shanghai, Beijing and other cities, but later rallied on hopes that public pressure could lead to a new government crackdown.
Further COVID outbreaks could weigh on China’s economic activity in the short term, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday, adding it saw scope for a safe policy recalibration that could allow economic growth to pick up in 2023.
China’s strict containment measures have dampened domestic activity this year and spilled over to other countries through supply chain disruptions.
After weak data in an official survey on Wednesday, the Caixin/S&P Global Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index showed that factory activity contracted for a fourth straight month in November. Continue reading
While the change in tone regarding COVID appears to be a response to public dissatisfaction with strict measures, authorities are also attempting to poll those present at the demonstrations.
China Dissent Monitor, run by the US government-funded organization Freedom House, estimates that at least 27 demonstrations took place across China from Saturday to Monday. Australian think tank ASPI estimated 43 protests in 22 cities.
Additional reporting by Ellen Zhang; Letter from Marius Zaharia; Edited by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel
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