China Reacts To South Korea’s Covid Curbs

Beijing has retaliated against South Korea’s Covid-19 curbs on travellers from China, as state media further downplayed the severity of the outbreak in the last major economy to reopen its borders after three years of isolation.

China ditched mandatory quarantines for arrivals and allowed travel to resume across its border with Hong Kong on Sunday, removing the last major restrictions under the “zero-Covid” regime which it abruptly began dismantling in early December after historic protests against the curbs.

But the virus is spreading unchecked among its 1.4 billion people and worries over the scale and impact of its outbreak have prompted South Korea, the United States and other countries to require negative Covid tests from travellers from China.

Although China imposes similar testing requirements for all arrivals, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Wang Wenbin told reporters on Tuesday the entry curbs for Chinese travellers were “discriminatory.”

“We will take reciprocal measures,” Wang said, without elaborating.

The Chinese embassy in South Korea has suspended issuing short-term visas for South Korean visitors, it said on Tuesday, the first retaliatory move against nations imposing Covid-19 curbs on travellers from China.

”The embassy will adjust the policy subject to the lifting of South Korea’s “discriminatory entry restrictions” against China,” it said on its official WeChat account.

With the virus let loose, China has stopped publishing daily infection tallies. It has been reporting five or fewer deaths a day since the policy U-turn, figures that have been disputed by the World Health Organization and are inconsistent with funeral reporting surging demand.

Some governments have raised concerns about Beijing’s data transparency as international experts predict at least 1 million deaths in China this year. Washington has also raised concerns about future potential mutations of the virus.

China dismisses criticism over its data as politically-motivated attempts to smear its “success” in handling the pandemic and said any future mutations are likely to be more infectious but less harmful.

“Since the outbreak, China has had an open and transparent attitude,” the foreign ministry’s Wang said.

But as infections surge across China’s vast rural hinterland, many, including elderly victims, are simply not bothering to get tested.

State media downplayed the severity of the outbreak.

Officials in the southern technology powerhouse Shenzhen announced on Tuesday that the city had also passed its peak.

Kan Quan, director of the Office of the Henan Provincial Epidemic Prevention and Control, said nearly 90% of people in the central province of 100 million people had been infected as of Jan. 6.

Pfizer’s Chief Executive Albert Bourla said on Monday the company was in discussions with Chinese authorities about a price for Paxlovid, but not over licensing a generic version in China.

China’s abrupt change of course in Covid policies has caught many hospitals ill-equipped, while smaller cities were left scrambling to secure basic anti-fever drugs.

Yu Weishi, chairman of Youcare Pharmaceutical Group, said his firm boosted output of its anti-fever drugs five-fold to one million boxes a day in the past month.

Reuters/ Mercy Chukwudiebere