In China, the regime is trying to make people forget its “zero Covid” policy
Doctor Zhong Nanshan embodied China's "zero Covid" policy for almost three years.
REUTERS - THOMAS SUEN
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
After having long presented the risks of catching Covid-19, Beijing's propaganda calls on the country's best-known doctors to reassure the Chinese, surprised at the sudden relaxation of restrictions.
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The 180 degree turn of the Chinese authorities continues more than ever.
After having erected the Omicron variant for a long time as public enemy number one, the regime now wants to be positive and reassuring.
The best example of this reversal is the positioning of Dr. Zhong Nanshan.
Since the start of the pandemic, the
“zero Covid”
gentleman of the communist regime has become a real celebrity, multiplying his outings to praise the merits of the Chinese system.
But that was before.
“
The Omicron variant mainly attacks the upper parts of the respiratory tract and spares the lungs.
So infection with this variant is not scary, as approximately 99% of people infected with Omicron can recover fully in seven to ten days.
With rest, you are on your feet very quickly
,” he says.
Rest, advocates Zhong Nanshan, who also calls for the population, especially the elderly and health professionals, to be vaccinated so that normal life can fully return to the country.
This about-face and the end of Zero covid surprised China.
Signs of opening had indeed been observed in recent weeks, but everything really accelerated at the end of last month.
In several cities of the country, demonstrators gathered to shout their anger and their weariness in the face of the sanitary measures which had lasted for almost three years.
► To read also: China: the IMF welcomes the release of “zero Covid”
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