China: As anti-Covid rallies erupted, additional Chinese cities are preparing to soften their stance on severe coronavirus controls and relax some virus prohibitions. The draconian Covid restrictions, protracted lockdowns, and mass testings triggered major protests in several Chinese cities, with demonstrators demanding President Xi Jinping’s resignation and the termination of the lockdowns.
Apart from Guangzhou and Chongqing, Shijiazhuang in the north, Chengdu in the southwest, and other important cities have recently declared that they are relaxing testing requirements and mobility regulations, according to news agency AP. On Wednesday, the Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Chongqing announced a relaxation of severe Covid-19 restrictions.
Meanwhile, China’s National Health Commission announced plans to encourage elderly people to get vaccinated because they are at a “greater risk” of infection.
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Here are the story’s major developments.
- More Chinese localities have declared that they are reducing Covid limitations in an effort to appease public outrage and avoid further protests over China’s zero Covid policy. The capital city of Beijing has begun allowing some patients with the condition to isolate at home, avoiding crowded quarantine centres that have provoked complaints, according to the website of the tabloid Yicai. However, analysts fear that the stringent ‘Covid-19 policy’ could be extended for another year.
- According to the report, Shenyang and Harbin, China’s industrial centres, announced that students who take classes online and those who have very little interaction would no longer be required to undergo virus tests that were previously performed as frequently as once a day. The anti-epidemic organisation did not respond to faxed questions.
- China will enable certain people who test positive for Covid to be quarantined at home, among other steps to be disclosed in the coming days, according to two sources familiar with the situation. Pregnant women, the elderly, and persons with underlying conditions will be eligible for home isolation.
- The government has committed to shorten quarantine periods and make other important changes to lessen the interruption to its ‘zero Covid’ strategy. However, schools and businesses would stay closed, and access to communities would be restricted, according to the Associated Press.
- A vaccination drive for the elderly has raised optimism that China may relax strict anti-virus measures. According to the National Health Commission, the campaign would encourage those over the age of 60 to be vaccinated. It has stated that it will send out mobile vaccination units to target persons in their 70s and 80s who are unable to leave their homes.
According to the Commission, nine out of ten Chinese have been immunised, while only 66% of persons over the age of 80 have had one shot. While 40% obtained a booster injection, 86% of persons over the age of 60 received the vaccine.
- Protests erupted in China after a fire broke out in an apartment building in Urumqi, Xinjiang, killing ten people and injuring nine others. Protesters claimed that the strict Covid measures impeded rescue efforts, which authorities rejected. China’s rigorous containment efforts have slowed domestic economic growth this year, and supply chain disruptions have spread to other countries.
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