Until now, people in large parts of China have been unable to move without negative test evidence, while millions more have been in lockdown because some infections were found nearby. Apartment complexes were sometimes locked for weeks if even one resident had tested positive.
In this way, the country tried to bring the number of infections with the virus to zero: the zero covid policy. That was also embraced by the majority of the population for two years, because it involved protection of human life and a relatively intact economy. At the beginning of this year, the much more contagious omikron variant was circulating, and the policy took on absurd proportions.
Unexpected
However, after unusually fierce protests, relaxations were unexpectedly announced in some cities last week. In major cities such as Beijing and Guangzhou, for example, lockdowns were lifted in several districts, despite a large number of infections.
Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chunlan, who is responsible for corona policy, put the danger of the omikron variant into perspective for the first time in the state media and spoke of “a new phase in epidemic control”.
From Friday, test cabins in the capital were removed. A video of such a cabin being placed on a truck by a crane went viral on Chinese social media. From Monday, for example, people there will no longer have to show proof of testing when they board the metro, although this will still be mandatory in many other places, such as offices. Some neighborhood committees published guidelines on social media on how to quarantine people who tested positive at home. That is also new: previously citizens who were infected had to go to the hospital and their neighbors and contact persons to a quarantine center.
President Xi Jinping is said to have said on Thursday during a meeting with Charles Michel, President of the European Council, that the omikron variant of the corona virus paves the way for less strict corona measures.