Rigorous corona measures triggered a wave of protests in several cities in the People’s Republic at the weekend. At least two metropolises are now lifting their lockdowns, although the number of infections is increasing. The leadership in Beijing explains how this is possible.
China’s Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chunlan has triggered new speculation about possible corona easing in the People’s Republic. “The omicron variant has become less pathogenic, more people are being vaccinated and we have gained more experience in Covid prevention,” Sun said at a meeting of the National Health Commission. “This means that our fight against the pandemic is at a new stage and entails new tasks.”
Rigorous measures such as lockdowns, forced quarantine and mass tests in response to a new corona wave led to unusually large protests in several Chinese cities over the weekend. It was the largest public demonstration of displeasure in China in decades.
In response to the rallies, a massive police presence was mobilized on the streets of Beijing, Shanghai and other cities to prevent the demonstrations from flaring up again. The country’s political leadership has announced vigorous action, blaming “hostile” elements for disrupting public order.
Even before the protests broke out, the authorities had decided to adjust the corona measures. However, since the number of infections has recently risen sharply, many cities have imposed additional measures. The Health Commission asked the local authorities to strictly adhere to the guidelines. However, according to Chinese state media, the high-risk status has been lifted in 24 districts of Shanghai. Eleven districts of Guangzhou were also released from the lockdown on Wednesday, although the number of infections in both cities is still rising.
On Tuesday, the Health Commission also announced that it wanted to push the vaccination campaign harder – especially in the elderly population. For fear of side effects, older people in the country of 1.4 billion people have so far been vaccinated less. Only 40 percent of people over the age of 80 have received a booster shot.
The number of reported new corona infections meanwhile fell slightly for the third day in a row. As the Health Commission reported on Thursday, around 35,800 new cases were reported the previous day. On Tuesday there were around 37,600 infections. Only recently, the number of more than 40,000 new infections per day reached a high since the pandemic began almost three years ago.