The competent authorities in China have made changes in their policy regarding combating the emerging corona virus, and have begun to ease some restrictions related to efforts to combat the epidemic in major cities, after days of widespread protests calling for the lifting of closure measures.
According to the newspaper “The New York TimesOn Wednesday, the Chinese government revealed a broad easing of its strict “zero Covid” policy.
Beijing seeks, through its easing of measures related to combating the emerging Corona virus, to revive the economy after the daily life of hundreds of millions of people was disrupted, many small businesses were forced to close, and the youth unemployment rate rose to a record level.
The following are the most prominent steps taken by China, related to the changes that affected the “zero Covid” policy.
Virus tests
Mass testing will not take place in areas that are not considered “high risk”, a designation given to places where there are many positive cases.
The “high risk” category, according to the new rules, will be limited to buildings, units, floors or houses, rather than include entire neighborhoods and cities, and the “BCR” test will not be required for moving and traveling between regions within the country.
Hospitalization and quarantine
In a departure from the rule that has angered many Chinese, which forces many infected people to remain in makeshift isolation facilities and hospitals, people with mild symptoms are only able to stay home for five days and then retest.
The authorities amended some of these rules in early November, after they canceled stay-at-home orders for close contacts of patients, as the measure was confining tens of millions to their homes.
closures
The new measures limit the authority of local officials to impose the closure, and force them to work to lift it as soon as possible.
Local authorities may continue to close buildings if a positive case is detected, but they cannot restrict movement and suspend business operations in areas outside the designated “high risk” classification.
For “high risk” areas, the new guidelines mandate lifting the lockdown if no new positive cases are detected for five consecutive days.
In enclosed spaces, authorities are strictly prohibited from preventing people from using emergency exits in the event of a fire alarm.
The decision comes after 10 people died recently in a building fire in western Xinjiang.
The incident caused mass protests and unrest in more than two dozen cities over the past week.
Vaccinations
The government renewed its pledge to do more to increase the vaccination rate for the elderly, but the new rules left unanswered questions about how officials would try to contain the coming waves of infection.
The ruling Communist Party has accelerated the vaccination campaign in recent days by approving several new vaccines made in China, and by publishing and broadcasting interviews with experts trying to allay concerns about the negative health effects of those vaccines.
But this step may not achieve its goals in a timely manner, according to a virologist at the University of Hong Kong, Doctor Siddharth Sridhar, who believes that even if China moves quickly to vaccinate its vulnerable population, such as the elderly, it needs a few months for the campaign to start giving some Positive results.
He pointed out that local vaccines in China are weaker than vaccines that rely on Western mRNA technology, as experts agree that a third dose is necessary to prevent severe symptoms.
Meanwhile, he made it clear that prevention measures, including social distancing, quarantine and home isolation, are not sufficient to prevent a large-scale outbreak of the epidemic.
“If there is a major outbreak at some point, it is good to be prepared for that,” Sridhar added.
That means, according to the doctor, boosting doses for the elderly, stocking enough COVID-19 treatment drugs in hospitals across the country to help deal with acute cases, as well as providing ventilators and enough beds to receive patients.
“They need to strengthen their defenses because the storm is coming,” Sridhar concluded.