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China’s ‘great migration’ kicks-off under shadow of Covid


SHANGHAI: China on Saturday marked the first day of “chunyun,” a 40-day period of Lunar New Year travel known before the pandemic as the world’s largest annual migration of people, standard suffered a massive increase in tourist arrivals and the spread of Covid-19 19 infections.
This Lunar New Year holiday, officially starting January 21, will be the first holiday since 2020 without domestic travel restrictions.
Over the last month, China has seen the dramatic lifting of its “Covid-free” regime following historic protests against a policy that includes routine testing, travel restrictions, lockdowns, and more. mass and caused heavy damage to the world’s No. 2 economy.
Investors are hoping that the reopening will eventually revive a $17 trillion economy that is suffering its slowest growth in nearly half a century.
But sudden changes exposed many of China’s 1.4 billion population to the virus for the first time, sending a wave of infections flooding some hospitals, leaving pharmacy shelves empty. empty and caused long lines at crematoriums.
The Department of Transport said on Friday that it expected more than 2 billion passengers to make trips over the next 40 days, up 99.5% year-on-year and reaching 70, 3% of trips in 2019.
There was mixed reaction online to the news, with some comments praising the freedom to return home and celebrate the Lunar New Year with family for the first time in years.
However, many others said they would not travel this year because fears of infecting elderly relatives were a common theme.
“I dare not return to my hometown for fear of bringing back the poison,” said one such comment on Twitter-like Weibo.
There is concern that the mass migration of workers from cities to their home countries will cause an increase in infections in smaller towns and rural areas that are not equipped with adequate beds. ICU and ventilator to deal with them.
Authorities say they are strengthening grass-roots health services, opening more rural fever clinics and setting up a “green channel” to direct high-risk patients, especially those at risk. Elderly people with underlying diseases from the villages go to the hospital at the higher level.
“China’s rural area is large, has a large population, and medical resources per capita are relatively lacking,” said National Health Commission spokesman Mi Feng.
“There is a need to provide convenient services, accelerate the vaccination of the elderly in rural areas, and build grassroots defenses.”
Infection peak reached
Some analysts are now saying that the current wave of infections may have peaked.
Ernan Cui, an analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics in Beijing, cited several online surveys indicating that rural areas have been more exposed to COVID infections than originally thought, with infection peaks already reached in most regions, noting that “there is not much difference between urban and rural areas.”
On Sunday, China will reopen its border with Hong Kong and will also end quarantine requirements for travelers arriving from abroad. That really opens the door for many Chinese to go abroad for the first time since the border closed nearly three years ago without fear of being quarantined upon return.
Jillian Xin, who has three children and lives in Hong Kong, said she is “extremely excited” about the border opening, especially when it means they can see family in Beijing more easily. .
“For us, opening the border means my kids can finally see their grandparents for the first time since the pandemic started,” she said. “Our two children have never met their grandfather, so we can’t wait to see each other.”
China’s rise in infections has caused concern around the world, and more than a dozen countries are now requiring travelers arriving from China to be tested for Covid. The World Health Organization on Wednesday said China’s Covid data misrepresents hospitalizations and deaths from the disease.
Chinese officials and state media have defended their handling of the outbreak, downplaying the severity of the outbreak and condemning foreign travel requirements for their residents.
On Saturday in Hong Kong, people with appointments had to queue for about 90 minutes at a PCR testing center needed to travel to countries including mainland China.
Treatment comes first
For much of the pandemic, China has poured resources into an extensive PCR testing program to track and trace Covid-19 cases, but the focus is now shifting to vaccines and treatments.
In Shanghai, for example, the city government on Friday announced the end of free PCR testing for residents from January 8.
A circular released Saturday by four government ministries signaled a reallocation of financial resources for treatment, outlining a public financing plan to subsidize 60% of treatment costs through May 31. 3.
Meanwhile, sources told Reuters that China is in talks with Pfizer Corporation to secure a license allowing domestic drugmakers to manufacture and distribute a generic version of the US company Paxlovid’s Covid antiviral drug in China.
Many Chinese have tried to buy medicine abroad and have it shipped to China.
On the vaccine front, China’s CanSino Biologics Inc announced that it has begun trial production of a Covid mRNA-enhanced vaccine, called CS-2034.
China has relied on nine domestically-developed vaccines that have been approved for use, including inactivated vaccines, but none have been adapted to target the potentially Omicron variant. highly transmissible and its offshoots are currently circulating.
The overall vaccination rate in the country is above 90%, but the proportion of adults who received booster shots fell to 57.9% and 42.3% for people 80 years of age and older, according to government data. announced last month.
China reported three new Covid deaths in the mainland on Friday, bringing the official death toll from the virus since the pandemic began to 5,267, one of the lowest in the world.
International health experts believe Beijing’s narrow definition of the number of Covid deaths does not reflect the real number and some predict more than a million deaths this year.

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