On Saturday, China’s fitness government gave no indication of a relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions, following several days of speculation that the government was contemplating moving to a “zero-COVID” system that has hampered economic expansion and disrupted daily life.
Officials said at a news conference they would “firmly” adhere to the policy, which aims to prevent cases from entering the country and quell outbreaks as they are discovered.
The announcement is not a surprise and does not rule out the option of discussions taking a position behind closed doors. But there has been no official confirmation of the talks and, according to analysts, any adjustment will be gradual, with primary easing unlikely before next year.
Speculation boosted stock markets in China this week as investors and the public clung to every trace of change imaginable. Passing through with the rest of the world.
Anyone entering China will be required to quarantine in a designated hotel for seven to ten days. Residents of the country line up several times a week to perform a virus check in outdoor booths, to meet the requirement of a negative result in the last 72 hours for entry of work buildings, grocery shopping, shopping malls, restaurants, parks and other public places.
Tuo Jia, an official of the National Health Commission, filed court cases from some cities about the zealous implementation of the 0 COVID policy and said that the local government wants to strike a balance between epidemic prevention and economic development.
“We will have to carry out decisive, decisive, clinical and accurate prevention and control, and resolutely erase and prevent all the bureaucracy of simplification, a single technique and exaggerated local measures,” he said.
Outbreaks scattered across the country continue to prompt restrictions and closures. China reported on Saturday that it had known about 3,500 new cases the previous day, adding about 3,000 who tested positive despite the absence of COVID-19 symptoms.
In the southeastern city of Guangzhou, Haizhu district suspended bus and subway service for three days and suggested citizens stay home while mass testing of its 1. 8 million people. A family user may faint every day to buy basic necessities.
Restrictions also exist in parts of northern Inner Mongolia and western Xinjiang region, where 43 new high-risk spaces were designated in Urumqi, the regional capital, on Saturday.
Wang Guiqiang, director of the infectious diseases branch of Peking University First Hospital, said at the press conference that the vaccination rate for others over 80 will be increased. China does not have a vaccination mandate.
A health official said 90 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, adding 86 percent of others over 60, but did not provide a figure for others over 80.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who paid Beijing one day on Friday, told reporters that China has agreed to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine developed in Germany for foreigners and hopes its use will spread to the Chinese public.
It was not transparent when approval would come. So far, China has only approved domestic vaccines, which use an older generation that has proven less effective at preventing the spread of the disease than vaccines from Pfizer or Moderna.