People are reflected on door panels as they wait in line to buy medicine at a pharmacy in Beijing on Tuesday.
Andy Wong/AP
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Andy Wong/AP
People are reflected on door panels as they wait in line to buy medicine at a pharmacy in Beijing on Tuesday.
Andy Wong/AP
BEIJING — Several Chinese universities said they would allow students to end their semesters at home in the hope of reducing the likelihood of a larger COVID-19 outbreak during the January Lunar New Year tourism peak.
It’s not clear how many schools are involved, but universities in Shanghai and nearby cities say students will be given the choice to return home early or stay on campus and undergo the test every 48 hours. The Lunar New Year, which falls on January 22 this year, is traditionally China’s busiest tourist season.
Universities have been regularly locked down for the past three years, sometimes leading to conflicts between the authorities and students confined to campus or even in their dorm rooms.
Tuesday’s announcement comes as China begins to relax its strict “no COVID” policy, allowing people with mild symptoms to stay at home instead of being sent to quarantine centres, among other changes. Another change took place after widespread protests.
Starting Tuesday, China stopped tracking some travel, potentially reducing the likelihood that people will be forced into quarantine upon arrival in COVID-19 hotspots. Even so, China’s international borders remain largely closed, and there’s no word on when restrictions on domestic travelers and Chinese wanting to go abroad will be eased.
The move follows the government’s dramatic announcement last week that it would end many of its strictest measures, three years after it enforced some of the strictest virus restrictions in the world.
Last month in Beijing and several other cities, protests against the restrictions evolved into calls for leader Xi Jinping and the Communist Party to step down — an unprecedented level of public disagreement. seen for decades.
Though appeased, the easing has also raised fears of a new wave of infections that is likely to overwhelm healthcare resources in some areas.
With so many people at home, the streets of downtown Beijing were eerily quiet on Tuesday. Small queues outside fever clinics – the number recently increased from 94 to 303 – and at pharmacies, where cold and flu medicines have become harder to find.
Many residents of mainland China have ordered drugs from pharmacies in Hong Kong, which has eased many restrictions.
The government of the southern semi-autonomous city took it a step further on Tuesday, saying it would remove restrictions on incoming tourists that currently prevent them from dining in restaurants or going to bars for three days. firstly. It will also eliminate the use of its contact tracing app, although vaccine requirements to enter places like restaurants will still apply. The new measures took effect on Wednesday.
The easing of control measures in the mainland means a sharp reduction in the tests required to aggregate the daily number of infections, but cases appear to be growing rapidly, with many people testing themselves at home and Stay away from the hospital.
China reported 7,451 new infections on Monday, bringing the country’s total to 372,763 – more than double from October 1. The country has recorded 5,235 deaths – compared with 1 ,1 million people in the United States.
The figures provided by the Chinese government have not been independently verified and questions have been raised about whether the ruling Communist Party has managed to minimize the number of infections and deaths.
The US consulates in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang and the central Chinese city of Wuhan will only provide emergency services from Tuesday “in response to the number of COVID-19 infections” increase,” the State Department said.
“The Chinese delegation makes every effort to ensure adequate provision of consular services to US citizens living in the PRC, but further disruptions may occur,” an email message said. , using the abbreviation of China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.
Xi’s government remains officially committed to preventing virus transmission, the last major country to try. But the latest moves suggest the party will accept more cases without quarantining or shutting down tourism or business as it ends its “COVID-free” strategy.
Amid unpredictable messages from Beijing, experts warn there is still a chance the ruling party could reverse course and re-impose restrictions if a large-scale outbreak occurs.
The change in policy comes after protests broke out on November 25 after 10 people were killed in a fire in the northwestern city of Urumqi. Many question whether COVID-19 restrictions are hindering rescue efforts. Authorities denied the claims went viral online, but protesters have voiced their long-standing frustration in cities like Shanghai, which have suffered severe lockdowns.
The party responded with a massive show of force and an unspecified number of people were arrested at the protests or in the days that followed.
