The province of Henan, one of the most populous in China, will impose on its 99 million inhabitants the obligation to carry out a Covid test every 48 hours. The measure will be put into effect after the region registers an increase in the number of infections by the coronavirus.
With large-scale testing, local authorities hope to improve the detection of positive cases and be able to determine as quickly as possible the isolation of those who have an infection. The idea is to avoid the scenario seen in Shanghai in recent weeks, in which strict restrictions forced the quarantine of millions of people, leading to social and economic disruption.
The shopping center of 25 million inhabitants plans to fully reopen on the 1st and in recent days the municipal administration has been slowly allowing more people to leave their homes – this Monday (23), new tests and specific restrictions were implemented. Meanwhile, Beijing has extended the remote work requirement to most of its 22 million residents.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, China has maintained a strategy called “Covid zero”, of minimum tolerance with outbreaks of the disease, which aims to completely eliminate the spread of the coronavirus. The tactic includes lockdowns, confinements and large-scale testing, without the easing of restrictions adopted in other countries.
Although it has kept the numbers of deaths and cases relatively low in the global comparison, the strategy is the subject of questioning by world health authorities. More recently, it was adapted to a dynamic lockdown model, isolating only neighborhoods, buildings or establishments with case records.
In Henan, residents who do not take the tests will lose the green pass that allows access to public places and the transport system. The province in the central region of the country, 400 kilometers south of Beijing, managed to remain on the sidelines of the latest outbreak of contagion, but recorded dozens of new cases in recent days.
The capital, in turn, had 99 new cases this Sunday (22), against 61 in the previous 24 hours – the highest daily count in the outbreak seen in the last month. Local authorities then mandated remote work in key areas, in order to reduce the flow of people and “keep all lines of defence”, in the words of a spokesperson.
Six of the city’s 16 districts have advised their residents to avoid agglomerations and adopt the home office – anyone who needs to go to work must present a negative PCR test carried out in the last 48 hours and offices must not exceed 30% of the maximum capacity. Another three neighborhoods encouraged these measures to localized groups.
The capital imposed restrictions on public transport, ordered the closure of some stores and shopping centers and blocked buildings where Covid cases were recorded.
Chinese health officials say infections have shown a steady decline trend in the most recent outbreak. An analysis last week estimated that less than 5% of the country’s cities were reporting contamination, compared to 25% at the end of March.
In Shanghai, fewer than 600 cases were reported on Sunday, none of them outside the quarantined areas. The city has reopened more than 250 bus routes and a part of the extensive subway system, but many districts and nearby cities have announced more mass testing and urged residents to refrain from leaving their homes.
