pandemic control
No compulsory testing: Chinese metropolises are relaxing corona measures
Workers stow objects from corona infected people
© Andy Wong/AP/DPA
After the massive protests against the corona protection measures and against the leadership in Beijing, China has relaxed some rules. Mass tests are partially omitted. The quarantine rules are no longer quite as strict.
Further relaxation of the corona virus has come into force in several Chinese cities. In the capital Beijing and the financial metropolis Shanghai, residents are no longer required to present a negative test result that is no more than 48 hours old in order to use public transport. In Shanghai, residents can now enter outdoor areas such as parks and tourist attractions again without a recent test, the authorities said on Sunday. The financial metropolis was sealed off for months this year.
Also in the city of Wuhan, where the corona virus was first detected at the end of 2019, and in the city of Shandong, the authorities lifted the test requirement for public transport on Sunday. The city of Hangzhou went one step further. It ended the regular mass tests for the ten million inhabitants. Excluded from the easing are people who attend or live in care facilities, schools and kindergartens.
Anti-corona protests were also directed against Xi
In the northwestern city of Urumqi, supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and ski resorts reopened on Monday. The city sparked nationwide protests after a house fire killed 10 people. Critics blamed the corona lockdowns for the fact that people could not be saved from the fire. What began with protests against the strict measures quickly turned against President Xi and the Communist Party in general.
Most recently, China had begun to relax some of the corona measures that had been in place for months. In addition to the obligation to test, this also applies to the quarantine regulations. The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed the relaxation of the strict zero-Covid policy.
The Chinese authorities reported almost 30,000 new corona cases in the country on Monday.