China‘s sudden shift toward easing strict Covid restrictions continued on Sunday, easing further restrictions in cities including Shanghai amid fears of a surge in Covid-19 infections as requirements for negative tests to access public transport and spaces across the country eased. Shanghai, which experienced its worst Covid outbreak and a tough lockdown earlier this year, will no longer require passengers to have a negative nucleic acid test result to travel on public transport, including buses and the subway, from Monday.
“The same rule also applies to entering public outdoor spaces such as parks,” the local government announced on Sunday, according to the state-run China Daily. Shanghai joins other populous cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Chongqing and Tianjin in easing “zero Covid” restrictions, a week after citizens took to the streets to protest the strategy in a rare display of widespread public discontent .
The local government of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang in China’s remote northwest, announced on Sunday that the city’s markets, restaurants and shopping malls would reopen from Monday, marking the end of nearly 100 days of lockdown. It was in Urumqi that protests against the “zero Covid” policy first erupted last weekend after 10 people died in a fire in a Covid-restricted high-rise building on November 26.
The Chinese government has called the return an “optimization” of Covid-19 prevention and control measures, as the country gradually moves from a “zero Covid” strategy that upended lives and affected the economy to a more flexible approach. At least 10 major Chinese cities have announced the end of requirements to check 48-hour valid Covid-19 test results for riding public transport,” the state-run Global Times tabloid reported.
The sudden changes have left people confused about the new rules, with many questioning whether nucleic acid tests or the mandatory check of health kits – digital kits on mobile phones – have been removed altogether. The Beijing government had to issue a statement on Saturday evening to quell rumors that all the curbs had been scrapped.
A statement from the local government said the city remains on high alert due to the ongoing Covid-19 epidemic in the city, which has seen more than 2,500 cases a day for several days; last week saw the highest daily number of cases in the city with 5,006 cases. Beijing officials are now using the phrase “be the first person in charge of your health” and urging citizens to be on the lookout for the outbreak, even as curbs are gradually lifted from top to bottom.
Beijing and the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou have also “…spared homebound residents from testing for Covid, while Chongqing and Shenzhen have largely curtailed mass testing,” the Caixin news website reported. “The capital also allowed those who do not have a negative nucleic acid test result obtained within 48 hours to enter hospitals, although they must still undergo a rapid antigen test once inside,” the report said. Experts have warned of a sharp rise in cases in the coming days due to the opening.
“Cases and deaths are going to increase eventually, and I don’t think there’s anything that can be done to prevent that entirely. But I still think there’s been a policy failure,” said Katherine Mason, an associate professor of anthropology at Brown University. “The big mistake, in my view, is that the government missed the opportunity to use all the time it bought to make the necessary preparations for the inevitable surge when Covid finally became unstoppable,” Mason said, adding: “I don’t think it’s on too late, but they (the Chinese government) made it unnecessarily difficult for themselves”.
China reported 31,824 new Covid-19 infections and two new deaths on Sunday over the previous day, the National Health Commission said in its daily bulletin. The drop in the number of infection cases in China could be because fewer people are now being tested for the infection.
