Epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan, the main voice here, said the reissue of the health manual will lead to a gradual reopening of the country and have a positive impact on the stability of its growth.
He stressed that the changes do not mean the government is ignoring the pandemic, as it will continue to focus on preventing and treating the most severe cases.
With that in mind, Zhong called for accelerating the vaccination campaign and immunizing as many people as possible ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday in January, when large numbers of people will travel through the national territory.
However, he reminded that infection with the omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus produces a similar amount of antibodies as injectables and patients can recover in seven to 10 days if they do not develop severe Covid-19 diseases .
Some observers predict that updating health protocols could officially spell the end of the zero Covid-19 strategy that China has been strictly implementing since 2020.
In recent days, the government has taken continuous steps to simplify the epidemiological mechanism, ensure socio-economic development, and root out controversial practices that have caused popular unease and unleashed unprecedented protests.
In this context, it is worth highlighting the end of mass confinement, the end of PCR tests for access to all public places except schools, health centers and grandparents’ homes, and the possibility of recovering at home.
China also carried out the second booster shot, approved imports of the American pill Paxlovid, and gave asymptomatic and other people a chance to recover at home.
But at the same time, there is an increase in the number of patients and long lines in front of health centers, to the point that more and more fever clinics have been set up across the country to reserve hospitals only for those in a serious situation.
Pharmacies also lack antipyretics, antigen tests and the most demanded drugs for the treatment of Covid-19 and the common flu, as they express themselves in a similar way.
The authorities promised to intensify the offensive against the arbitrary increase in the prices of these products and will try to stabilize supplies.
China has seen a record more than 30,800 deaths and nine million confirmed cases in its mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan since the coronavirus emerged in December 2019.
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