China: Covid-19 outbreak continues, travel reduced to a minimum
Medical workers in protective gear walk amid snow as they enter a locked residential complex to perform nucleic acid testing, following the Covid-19 outbreak in Changchun, Jilin Province , China March 14, 2022. VIA REUTERS - CHINA DAILY
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
Faced with the surge in new infections, authorities in Shanghai have suspended flights from overseas until May 1.
Tens of millions of Chinese are now asked to stay at home or limit their movements.
China's health commission reported more than 5,500 new cases on Monday for mainland China and nearly 27,000 new infections in Hong Kong.
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With our correspondent in Beijing,
Stéphane Lagarde
“We received the instructions at midnight (Monday), we did not have time to warn”
, confided this Tuesday a guard at the entrance of a residence now closed.
Cap, smile under the mask, the attendant at the barrier ensures, he says, that no one is tempted to go over it.
From the technological and industrial center of Shenzhen and Dongguan in southeast China, to Jilin province in the northeast, or from Chongqing in the southwest to Xian in the northeast west, passing through cities like Shanghai and Langfang, nearly
100 million Chinese are invited to stay at home
, except to go and buy basic necessities.
If the rebound of the Omicron variant nails planes to the tarmacs in Shanghai and the impressive images of empty streets in Chinese megacities return to the television news,
the resurgence of Covid-19
is seen on a daily basis in these micro measures supposed to limit movement and gatherings.
Travel reduced to a minimum
To avoid travel, the health authorities advise against leaving the cities, under penalty of spending 14 days of isolation at home on return.
In the same spirit and since Monday, train tickets are now refundable free of charge everywhere in
China
.
Containment, semi-containment… The measures are adapted to the progression of cases.
In Shenzhen, subways and bus lines are suspended.
In Shanghai, kindergartens and kindergartens are closed and online classes are provided for primary school students.
In Beijing, extracurricular activities have been reduced since Monday.
“We received a notification on Monday evening. Sports and cultural activities after class are temporarily suspended in order to contain the spread of the virus
,”
said a piano teacher from the Korean district of the Chinese capital
.
“Two dots, one line”
On the Wechat messenger and the Weibo network, the expression "
Liang Dian Yi Xian
", literally "
two dots, one line
" or
going from one point to another without stopping is very important in exchanges.
"Every day, my life boils down to
'2 points 1 line'
",
complains a young father of a family to his colleague in a noodle restaurant in the business district.
"
At school this morning, my son's teacher told me that we can no longer leave the city, otherwise we have to do 14 days of isolation when we return home,"
he adds
.
Avoid strolling between work and home, the so-called "dynamic" zero Covid strategy aims to avoid the total containment measures taken at the start of the epidemic.
But for how long ?
"
China should stick to the dynamic zero Covid strategy and thus be able to control the new wave of contamination by the beginning of April",
believe epidemiologists from Lanzhou University quoted
by the official press
.
A "zero case" strategy put to the test by Omicron's transmission speed.
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