The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the body responsible for the Xi Jinping regime’s cybernetic strategy, announced on Wednesday (18) an operation that should intensify control over the circulation of information on various topics during the festival linked to the New Year. -New Chinese — especially about the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the CAC statement, the objectives of the program are, among others, the “in-depth rectification of false information to avoid dark feelings” and “avoid deceiving the population and causing social panic”.
The list includes, for example, what the agency calls “rumors on the internet related to the epidemic”, as well as the “invention of patient experiences”, the sharing of homemade recipes against the virus and negative comments about the new “policy of epidemic prevention” — a reference to the set of measures that, in practice, replaces Covid zero, ended last month.
The Chinese New Year festivities are one of the most important holidays in China and are marked by the movement of millions of people across the country. Officially, they run from next Sunday (22) to February 5, but in practice, they can last up to 40 days. This year, its significance is even more important because the strictest health restrictions imposed by the regime are lifted for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
At the same time, the intense movement of people, notably from large cities to rural areas, is a concern for Beijing. According to the state news agency Xinhua, leader Xi Jinping contacted provincial authorities asking for more efforts to contain the impact of the disease.
“Epidemic prevention and control has entered a new phase, and we are still in a period that requires great efforts to fill the gaps in rural areas,” said Xi, according to the agency. “Medical facilities are relatively weak in rural areas, so prevention is difficult, and the task is uphill.”
Last Saturday (14), Beijing admitted almost 60,000 deaths from Covid in just over a month. The balance sheet counted the deaths between December 8 and January 12, therefore covering the period that followed the end of Covid zero.
Although the figure is more than ten times greater than the official total of deaths registered until then, there are indications that it is also underreported. The number does not include, for example, Chinese who have died at home or outside hospitals – and there are reports of doctors and other health professionals who would have been pressured not to include the diagnosis of Covid in death certificates.
Airfinity, a British biotechnology analysis and consultancy company, released a survey this week pointing to an estimated 608,000 deaths from the coronavirus since December – the previous estimate was 437,000.
Airfinity’s forecast is that the two weeks of the holiday will generate more than 62 million new cases, in what the company called a wave of infections “bigger and more severe” than previously estimated, which should increase pressure on hospitals and crematoriums and potentially increase the fatality rate.
According to Chinese authorities, the number of critical cases of Covid, which require prolonged hospitalization and which can lead to death, reached a peak on January 5 and began to fall – 40% less on Tuesday (17).
On January 30, Hong Kong is also set to lift the main Covid restriction. The city will no longer require the isolation of people infected with the virus. “This is one of the important steps towards normality,” said John Lee, chief executive of the former British colony.
The use of masks during the practice of physical exercises, however, remains mandatory. Last week, high-speed rail lines between Hong Kong and mainland China resumed for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
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