China blinks after street stirs, eases more Covid restrictions
The move comes after protests in many cities calling for an end to China’s strict virus policy, greater political freedom
HONG KONG/BEIJING: China is set to announce an easing of its Covid-19 quarantine protocols in the coming days and a reduction in mass testing, people familiar with the matter said, a marked shift in policy after anger over the world’s toughest curbs fuelled widespread protests. Cases nationwide remain near record highs.
China appeared likely to relax some of its strict ‘zerocovid’ rules, a senior Chinese official’s comments and reports indicated on Thursday, exactly three years since the first documented coronavirus patient developed symptoms in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
The December 1 anniversary of the first Covid infection to be recorded in scientific literature comes as China, under pressure from surging cases and public anger at its punishing regime, is starting to chart a path towards rejoining the rest of the world in living with the virus.
Vice-premier Sun Chunlan, the senior-most Chinese official overseeing Covid-control strategies, said the country’s battle against Covid-19 “requires a new approach as the Omicron variant becomes less pathogenic, more people get vaccinated and experience is gained in controlling the virus,” according to Xinhua, the official news agency.
She made the comments during a meeting of national health officials on Wednesday, the Xinhua report said.
Sun’s remarks come against the backdrop of the worst ongoing country-wide Covid outbreak, which has hit some of the country’s largest cities including Beijing, Guangzhou and Chongqing.
Sun is the highest official in charge of Covid-controls to acknowledge that the Omicron variant is less virulent, a significant change in the official position, suggesting a more flexible set of restrictions could be implemented in the coming days.
“With the people at the centre, prevention and control work must steadily progress, policies continue to be optimised in small steps but without stopping,” she said.
Guangzhou in the south, Shijiazhuang in the north, Chengdu in the southwest and other major cities announced they were easing testing requirements and controls on movement. In some areas, markets and bus service reopened.
The announcements didn’t mention last weekend’s protests in Shanghai, Beijing and at least six other cities against the human cost of anti-virus restrictions that confine millions of people to their homes.
But the timing and publicity suggested President Xi Jinping’s government was trying to mollify public anger after some protesters made the politically explosive demand that Xi resign.
With a heavy police presence, there was no indication of protests. Notes on social media complained that people were being stopped at random for police to check smartphones, possibly looking for prohibited apps such as Twitter, in what they said was a violation of China’s Constitution.
“I am especially afraid of becoming the ‘Xinjiang model’ and being searched on the excuse of walking around,” said a posting signed Qi Xiaojin on the popular Sina Weibo platform, referring to the northwestern region where Uighur and other Muslim minorities are under intense surveillance.
Protesters have used Twitter and other foreign social media to publicise protests while the Communist Party deletes videos and photos from services within China. On Thursday, the government reported 36,061 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, including 31,911 without symptoms.
Meanwhile, Beijing was preparing for the funeral of Jiang Zemin, who was ruling party leader until 2002 and president until the following year.
The party announced he died on Wednesday in Shanghai of leukaemia and multiple organ failure.
No foreign dignitaries will be invited in line with Chinese tradition, the party announced. It has yet to set a date for the funeral or announce how it might be affected by anti-virus controls.
The protests began on Friday after at least 10 people were killed in a fire in an apartment building in Urumqi in Xinjiang.