Authorities in a number of Chinese cities yesterday took new steps to ease stringent COVID-19 lockdowns, under pressure from militant demonstrations that spread to major urban centers including Beijing and Shanghai over the weekend.

In the capital, local authorities in several districts announced that from now on, those who test positive for coronavirus will be able to remain in home quarantine. This is an impressive policy change as there has been huge unrest in previous months as new cases of the virus were concentrated in large institutions set up by the Authorities and their areas were sealed off with draconian lockdowns from the outside world.

Less tests

Lockdowns in place until yesterday were also lifted in the major industrial city of Guangzhou, north of Hong Kong, where large-scale clashes between protesters and police had erupted two days earlier. In Urumqi, Xinjiang province, where protests began after a deadly fire, large shopping malls, supermarkets and other businesses have reopened. Chengdu and Tianjin have announced that travelers will not need to test negative for COVID, while the frequency of testing has been reduced in several regions of China.

The easing of restrictive measures was favorably received by international markets, while it contributed to the easing (temporary or not visible in the coming days) of social tensions, since there were no major demonstrations over the past day. According to correspondents of international agencies, most of the citizens took the weakening of the self-isolation regime with relief, but another significant part of them, mostly elderly people, did not hide their concern, as they were convinced by the information campaigns of the authorities. about the potentially fatal consequences of the disease when it comes to vulnerable categories.

Chinese authorities are using data from protesters’ mobile phones to intimidate them, according to CNN.

In an attempt to allay those fears, Vice Premier Sun Chunyan, who heads the pandemic containment agency, said that the ability of the coronavirus to infect and especially cause severe illness has been significantly reduced. This post belatedly matches the estimates. which were formulated during the year by the relevant health services around the world. Yesterday, Chinese health authorities announced a slight drop in viral infections (total 34,980, of which 30,702 were asymptomatic), with no deaths recorded for the fourth consecutive day.

The main problem facing China, which makes its leadership unwilling to quickly ease restrictions, is the low vaccination rate among the oldest and most vulnerable ages. In an interview with the Financial Times, Asish Jha, appointed by President Biden as “czar” of the US health authorities in the fight against COVID-19, sent a warning message to China, arguing that he would not be able to achieve high immunity in general. population if this does not allow the introduction of relatively more effective Western vaccines.

“I am genuinely concerned about the ability of the Chinese to deal with the virus and keep the population’s immunity high with the vaccines they have. Indeed, better vaccines are needed, ”said Tsa, referring to mRNA vaccines from Western companies Pfizer and Moderna. China does not allow the import of these vaccines and is limited to using its own, produced by Sinovac and Sinopharm and approved by the World Health Organization. Experts agree that Chinese vaccines provide a high degree of protection against serious illness and death after three doses, but are less effective in preventing infections and are less effective.

Meanwhile, repressive measures to prevent a new wave of protests continue. A CNN report said that Beijing police tracked protesters who took part in recent protests from their mobile phones, stole their personal information, and then called them to intimidate them and bring them in for questioning.