China begins to ease anti-epidemic measures

China has begun to ease its strict “zero-coronavirus” policy as it returns to normal life — but also fears a wider outbreak could emerge if controls are loosened.

The country reported 21,165 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, but it was unclear whether the lower number reflected fewer infections or fewer tests.

The National Health Commission on Wednesday released relaxed anti-pandemic rules, including easing the lockdown and lifting the requirement for recent negative Covid-19 tests to enter most public places.

The committee said this was due to “positive results” in the fight against the virus and a recognition that the current Omicron variant is less dangerous than earlier versions of the virus – a long-standing challenge in other countries that have reopened their societies. accepted facts.

The easing was also followed by the largest street protests in decades, as people tired of draconian controls that they blamed for stunting the economy, upending the lives of millions and causing some to die from a lack of proper The test results refused to receive hospital treatment and died. .

“This is an inevitable trend. We have to let go sooner or later, and we can’t stick to the previous measures,” said Xin Guijun, a 70-year-old Beijing resident.

“However, one thing is that we are on our own to protect ourselves, we have to develop our own awareness of personal protection,” Mr Sim told The Associated Press.

While the policy easing has been a relief to Chinese society, there are still many uncertainties and the move has not been universally applauded.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top infectious disease expert in the United States, criticized China for relying on blockade measures. He said that if China does not “initiate and implement an aggressive vaccination campaign”, it may unleash a new wave of virus mutations in the world.

“Whenever you have a large-scale spread of a virus, you give it ample opportunity to mutate,” Dr Fauci told an event organized by the Financial Times on Wednesday.

“When you give a virus a chance to mutate, it forms potentially new variants. Once you get a whole new variant, that could have implications for the rest of the world,” Dr. Fauci said.

Dr. Fauci and other foreign health officials have urged Beijing to import a Western Covid-19 vaccine based on mRNA technology, which is believed to be more effective than an inactivated vaccine developed in China. Chinese officials have so far fallen on deaf ears to such calls.

The changes announced Wednesday include a renewed commitment to vaccinating the vulnerable and the elderly, who have far lower levels of immunity than the population as a whole. China has administered 3.4 billion doses of the vaccine to its 1.4 billion people, or about 2.4 doses per person, suggesting a large number of people have not received the recommended three doses.

The difficulty in China is that only a few people have been exposed to the virus under “Zero Covid”, and most people have no natural antibodies.

The official Xinhua News Agency said in an editorial on Wednesday that the changes were “made based on the latest epidemic situation and the mutation of the virus in order to contain the epidemic more scientifically and in a targeted manner.”

Xinhua stressed the need to “correct the one-size-fits-all, one-size-fits-all approach and excessive policy measures, and oppose and contain formalism and bureaucracy.”

China hasn’t officially given up on “Zero Covid,” the way it tries to track and eliminate all infections, but its recent steps seem to suggest it’s dropping it in all but name.

The ruling Communist Party believes the policy has saved China from the high numbers of cases and deaths seen in other countries.

China’s official death toll since the pandemic began is 5,235, compared with 1.1 million in the United States.