World: Gradual withdrawal of China from zero-Covid

   photo:reuter

Judging by Friday’s quiet streets in China’s capital, Beijing, and the reluctance of some businesses to drop Covid curbs, enduring anxieties about the coronavirus are likely to hamper a speedy return to health for the world’s second-largest economy.

Although the government on Wednesday loosened key parts of its strict “zero-Covid” policy that has kept the pandemic largely at bay for the past three years, many people appear wary of being too quick to shake off the shackles.

There were more signs of life in the centre city of Wuhan, where the epidemic first appeared in late 2019. On Friday, certain neighbourhoods were crowded with commuters. However, locals claim that normalcy is still far away. Taxi driver Wang, who wouldn't offer his entire name, claimed that despite the measures' relaxation, nobody was present.

"You see these streets and roads; they need to be busy and crowded with people. But nobody is present. This place is deserted.

However, the recent protests against Covid limits in numerous cities constituted the worst display of popular unhappiness since President Xi Jinping took office a decade ago. China has been everything but calm throughout this time. Some of those demonstrators are currently waiting anxiously to learn their fate after being located by China's security apparatus.

CHANGING PERSPECTIVE

Less than a month after the National Health Commission reaffirmed its dedication to its tight virus containment policy, emphasising that it was "putting people and lives first," the authorities have reversed their message and are now assuring the public that there is less cause for concern.

According to a report in the People's Daily, a newspaper owned and controlled by the Communist Party in power, renowned Chinese epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan predicted that 95% of those currently afflicted with the virus would recover in 7 to 10 days.

There are indications, though, that many of the 1.4 billion citizens of the nation need to be won over by the soothing new message.

Some have applauded the new freedoms as the requirement for tests has been eliminated and the majority of infected people are now permitted to isolate at home. Others are finding it difficult to change habits that were acquired over months of oppressive lockdowns.

Even though the city this week eliminated the requirement to demonstrate negative tests in order to ride trains or enter offices, there were a number of empty seats during what should have been peak morning rush hour on the Beijing metro on Friday.

At lunchtime, some restaurants in the city were empty. With a population of 1.4 billion, China's death toll from COVID at 5,235 is incredibly low by international standards. If the evacuation is made too quickly, several analysts have cautioned that the toll may exceed 1.5 million.