China eases zero-COVID policy due to mass protests

COVID-19 testing booths were removed in Beijing on Friday as Shenzhen, following other cities, announced it would no longer require commuters to submit their test results for the trip as China’s easing of covid restrictions gains momentum. writes The Guardian.

As daily coronavirus cases hover near record highs, some cities have taken steps to ease coronavirus testing requirements and quarantine rules as China seeks to make its “zero Covid” policy more targeted amid an economic slowdown and public frustration that de escalated into riots.

Cities including Guangzhou and Beijing have taken the lead in making changes. The southern city of Shenzhen announced on Saturday that it would no longer require people to test negative for Covid in order to use public transport or visit parks, following similar moves by China’s largest cities Chengdu and Tianjin.

Many testing sites in Beijing have been closed as the capital stopped requiring negative test results as a condition for entering places like supermarkets. On Monday, this rule will apply to the metro, although in many other places, including offices, such a requirement is still in place.

A video of workers in Beijing moving a test cabin with a crane onto a truck went viral on Chinese social media on Friday.

Some areas in Beijing have posted instructions on social media on how positive cases can be quarantined at home, a landmark move that marks a departure from official guidelines to send such people to central quarantine.

China is set to announce a further nationwide reduction in testing requirements.

Chinese authorities began adjusting their approach to the fight against COVID-19 in November, urging communities to act in more targeted ways.

A deadly apartment fire last month in the city of Urumqi (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region) sparked dozens of protests against covid restrictions, an unprecedented surge in mainland China since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012.

Xi Jinping himself, during a meeting with European Union officials in Beijing on Thursday, reportedly blamed the mass protests on youth frustrated by years of the pandemic, but said the now-dominant Omicron variant of the virus paved the way for fewer restrictions.

Chinese President Xi Jinping acknowledged disappointment in China over the government’s inexorable strategy to fight the coronavirus, a European Union official told CNN.

Xi told visiting European Council President Charles Michel in Beijing on Thursday that the protesters were “mostly students” feeling frustrated after three years of the COVID pandemic and hinted at a potential relaxation of China’s preventive measures, an EU official told CNN on Friday.

“Xi also said that Omicron is less lethal than Delta, which makes the Chinese government feel more open to further loosening COVID restrictions,” the EU official said.

However, the source was unable to confirm whether Xi used the word “protest” in Mandarin Chinese, nor was he able to specify exactly what language the Chinese leader used to describe the recent unrest over covid restrictions.

The latest wave of demonstrations is unprecedented since the pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square in 1989, CNN said. Since Xi took power in 2012, the Communist Party has tightened its grip on every aspect of life.

Xi’s remarks come as there are signs in parts of China that they have begun easing some COVID restrictions, including lifting lockdowns and allowing some coronavirus patients to remain in home quarantine following massive anti-lockdown protests across the country.

Foreign officials noted Beijing’s change in restrictions on the pandemic. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said on Friday that mass protests in China have “influenced” the relaxation of some covid rules.

Speaking at an event at American University, Sherman noted that the protests had subsided and said part of the reason for that was “they really made an impact,” citing China’s example of allowing people to quarantine at home.

“At the same time, I am not naive and the Chinese used their security forces to suppress the protests,” she added.

“So it’s not all good news,” Sherman says. “But protests matter.”

Starting next Monday, public transport operators in the Chinese capital Beijing will no longer ban passengers unless they test negative for Covid-19 within the previous 48 hours, a notice from municipal authorities said Friday. The new rule, which applies to buses and subways, is a reversal of the city’s tightening of containment measures announced 10 days ago.

However, the country has yet to announce any roadmap for reopening and lifting the many Covid restrictions across the country. A senior official in charge of China’s response to Covid claims the country is facing a “new stage and mission” in the fight against the pandemic. “With the reduced toxicity of the Omicron variant, increased vaccination rates, and accumulating experience in outbreak control and prevention, the containment of the pandemic in China is facing a new stage and mission,” Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said on Wednesday, according to the state news agency. Xinhua.