Chinese fitness officials announced Wednesday that, in the future, the daily number of covid-19 cases in the country will sideline other people with asymptomatic infections, an organization that accounted for a large majority of new cases on the day, amid reports that major cities are experiencing an additional backlog in cases after the national government rescinded many of the toughest pandemic measures last week.
In its daily report on Wednesday, China’s National Health Commission discussed only 2291 new “confirmed” cases nationwide, adding that it is “impossible to download accurate statistics for asymptomatic cases” because many other people with asymptomatic infections cannot be tested.
Last week, as part of a series of sweeping changes to the country’s method of combating the pandemic, the Chinese government abandoned mandatory Mass in cities reporting outbreaks, making swab PCR voluntary for most people.
Since that change, there has been a sharp drop in the number of new cases reported daily in the country, which is likely the result of fewer people being tested.
Despite the lower number of reported cases, several major cities in China, the capital Beijing, are witnessing a large accumulation of infections.
According to the Associated Press, several other people flock to fever clinics in Beijing, which recently rose from 94 to 303, and pharmacies, where bloodless and flu drugs and immediate antigen tests are scarce.
In Shanghai, China’s largest city and monetary hub, at least seven schools suspended face-to-face categories due to covid-19 cases, Reuters reported.
On Tuesday, the WHO said China was going through a “very complicated time” as it tried to temporarily move away from its strict Covid-19 restrictions. Citing the example of Australia, which experienced a similar increase after abandoning its zero-Covid technique last year: WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said: “It’s very difficult for any country to get out of a scenario where it has had very, very close controlled relations. . . We’ve said before: don’t pass the blockade too smoothly and too temporarily because it’s very, very difficult to get out.
Last week, China’s National Health Commission laid out a ten-point plan that rolled back China’s “covid zero” in its entire name. The policy change came after China saw unprecedented public protests in several major cities calling for draconian measures against the pandemic and even Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who had heavily subsidized the process. As part of China’s so-called “covid zero dynamic” technique, it has relied on severe city-wide lockdowns, repeated mass checks and government forced quarantine services to stop the local spread of the virus. But this technique has become increasingly untenable with the emergence of more infectious variants and subvariants of the coronavirus. Without explicitly mentioning ‘covid zero’, the Health Commission document dismantled several of its key measures, adding that it allows other people with mild infections to isolate at home and reduces the scope of building closures. neighborhoods and towns. The document also encourages the use of the less effective but less difficult immediate antigen test than RT-PCR tests. Earlier this week, China also shut down its national Covid tracking app, which in the past was mandatory for everyone else traveling anywhere within the country.
China reduces COVID-19 notification as virus rises (Associated Press)
‘Tough times’: Warnings echo over China’s ‘COVID-zero’ exit (Reuters)
China seems to be abandoning zero-Covid when pandemic regulations are reviewed (Forbes)
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