Sébastien Le Belzic (in Beijing) 08:09, December 05, 2022
After the demonstrations against the “zero Covid” policy which shook China last week, the Communist Party is easing health rules in the country, in particular by abandoning daily mass tests and reopening shopping centers or even parks.
A turn expected by the Chinese, who still remain cautious.
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange gained more than 3% this Monday morning, after the sanitary easing announced by the Chinese authorities.
A week after the demonstrations against the Communist Party's zero Covid strategy, Beijing announces in particular the abandonment of daily mass tests and the reopening of businesses.
End of the most controversial measures
It blows like a wind of freedom in China, for the first time in several weeks.
The parks are open, as well as the shopping centers.
Many people this weekend in the streets, despite the freezing cold in Beijing.
From today, restaurants will also be able to serve customers and the official press has tuned in to this new discourse with articles explaining that Covid is not a fatal disease.
It is therefore a 180 degree turn after three long years of zero Covid policy.
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"We are seeing the emergence of a cohesive and calibrated virus control strategy with people's lives, livelihoods, well-being and human rights of the Chinese people," hi Michael Ryan, Executive Director in charge of the management of health emergencies at the World Health Organization.
The government has indeed announced the end of the most controversial measures of its zero Covid policy: the end of mass testing, the end of confinement in quarantine centers with more than Spartan comfort.
You still have to be careful.
Some studies estimate that the complete lifting of the measures could cause between 1 and 2 million deaths in China, hence the priority currently given to vaccination.