The Chinese were suddenly frightened by the removal of covid restrictions

China’s health authorities revised the zero-covid policy on Wednesday, adopting a 10-point national plan that, although retaining some restrictions, has largely eased the strict anti-pandemic regime.

In particular, the Chinese authorities have decided to stop tracking health codes in most public places, mass testing is cancelled. Many people who test positive for the virus (asymptomatic carriers and those with mild illness) are allowed to remain in home quarantine. In addition, restrictions have been placed on blocking areas considered “high-risk” areas.

“The world has changed overnight, and it’s really amazing,” said Ding, a 30-year-old manager at a Beijing-based technology company, visibly delighted with the government’s easing. “I feel like we’re back to normal. It’s important to me because if I don’t get back to normal, I might go crazy.”

The first visible signs of change were the removal of health code scanning signs from the walls of subway stations across China and the closure of some checkpoints. However, authorities in the Chinese capital said on Wednesday that a health code showing a negative COVID-19 test result would still be required to dine at restaurants or enter some entertainment venues, contrary to nationwide rules.

In any case, even taking into account the remaining restrictions, it would seem that one should rejoice. The markets reacted with a clear revival to the statements of the official Beijing. The Chinese society is clearly tired of the anti-COVID strictness, as evidenced by the mass protests that have spread to different cities and towns of the PRC. Even after most of the world restrictions previously imposed due to the pandemic were lifted, China continued the practice of blocking residential areas and entire cities with a million inhabitants, where even an insignificant (and especially by Chinese standards) number of cases of virus infection was found, and all patients with detected COVID-19 were sent to central quarantine facilities.

But in the honey barrel of the liberalization of the “zero COVID” policy, there was a place for not a small fly in the ointment. Many residents of the Middle Kingdom are now worried about the consequences of lifting restrictions. More recently, the authorities were adamant about countering the infection, but now they say that the current strain of the virus is not so dangerous. Senior health officials in Beijing said on Wednesday that the changes to the anti-COVID rules are based on scientific evidence, the spread of a relatively milder variant of Omicron, a high population vaccination rate and China’s experience in dealing with the coronavirus.

“We can say that we have gone through the most difficult times,” states the official publication Huanqiu Shibao. “In almost three years of exceptionally difficult ‘People’s Fight Against the Epidemic’, countless people have made sacrifices, endured hardships and made efforts to win this battle… But step by step, today we can take the strategic initiative against the virus. We have entered a period of adaptation where the virus is getting weaker and we are getting stronger.”

Not only have there been no clear signs of a COVID-00 policy adjustment until recently, but government officials and state-run media, while justifying the need to maintain restrictive policies, have emphasized the danger of the virus and the potential long-term consequences associated with it.

Not surprisingly, some Chinese experience a kind of cognitive dissonance.

“Of course, I’m very excited about these new changes – but most of my friends are showing typical signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, they just can’t believe it’s happening,” says Wang, a 33-year-old freelancer from Shanghai. While the announced easing is welcome, there remains a sense of distrust in the metropolis, which went through more than two months of citywide lockdown earlier this year, he said.

And now, against the background of China’s refusal to tighten restrictions, health experts are warning about the danger of coronavirus. In particular, due to the fact that due to the “zero COVID” policy, most Chinese were not exposed to the virus. And this circumstance, according to experts, threatens to become a factor in the impending surge in the incidence in China.

Not only experts are concerned, but also ordinary people. On the Chinese online platform Weibo, topics and hashtags related to what to do in case of an Omicro infection have been trending in recent days, while the Western media mentions numerous reports of panic buying by the Chinese of fever medicines. In particular, one online retailer said on Thursday that sales of medicines, including cold and cough medicines, antipyretics and anti-inflammatory drugs, increased 18 times in a week than in the same period in October. And sales of a traditional Chinese medicine that the government is touting as a cure for COVID-19 have increased 2,000-fold year-on-year.

Sales of protective face masks jumped 682% year-on-year in the first six days of the month, and sales of antigen tests rose 462% from the previous week.

“I want to be safe because I may be fine after the first infection, but if I get re-infected a second or third time, I don’t know what harm it will bring to my body,” the 27-year-old teacher cites CNN fears English from Beijing Aurora Hao.

And although many young Chinese (especially from metropolitan areas) are only happy about the relaxation of anti-COVID rules and freedom of movement, older people are wary of new realities, fearing becoming victims of the virus. And there is such a possibility: on December 2, the daily incidence rates reached the mark of more than 62 thousand cases.

So it is not surprising that a lot of Chinese people prefer waiting tactics so far: “Wait and see.”

And from an economic point of view, the rejection of “zero COVID” is not so simple. On the one hand, there is a resurgence in demand for travel and some other services in China. But experts warn that China’s economy is unlikely to rebound next year, as the country’s fragile healthcare system and low vaccination rates make it ill-prepared for a crisis in the event of a large wave of infections (which in turn could lead to a labor shortage). ). And it can happen, for example, during the celebration of the Lunar New Year in January, when many Chinese people like to travel.