One of China’s top authorities responsible for guidelines to combat the coronavirus pandemic signaled this Thursday (1th) a change in tackling the health crisis.
It is still too early to talk about an end to Covid zero, the restrictive policy that has sparked the biggest wave of civil disobedience in the country’s recent history, but Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chunlan promised a “more humane approach”.
Although he did not directly mention the protests that spread to major Chinese cities, Sun’s speeches were seen as a response to the acts and the harbinger of further easing of quarantine and isolation rules that entities such as the WHO classify as unsustainable.
“The country is facing a new situation and new tasks in epidemic prevention and control, as the pathogenicity of the omicron virus weakens, more people are vaccinated, and experience in containing the virus is accumulated,” said Deputy Prime Minister , according to state news agency Xinhua.
Sun also called for more efforts to streamline Covid-combat strategies, in particular mandatory testing, isolation protocols in quarantine centers and vaccination campaigns. According to her, China “has always put people’s health and safety first and has effectively dealt with the uncertainties of Covid-19 with a consistent strategy and flexible measures.”
The provincial capital of Guangdong, Guangzhou, which has seen some of the biggest protests in recent days, paved the way for the changes, easing restrictions and also allowing people who have come into contact with infected patients to quarantine at home, according to the local government and media.
The same measure should apply to the cities of Chongqing and Dongguan, also in Guangdong. A district in the city of Ordos in Inner Mongolia province temporarily halted all Covid testing on Thursday due to cold weather, with state media saying the move demonstrates the humanitarian side of epidemic control.
In Shanghai, 24 districts previously described as “high risk” areas have been released from lockdown measures. The same happened in Gaungzhou, but in 11 districts. The two megacities, however, have been recording an increase in coronavirus cases.
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