Covid Surge: Chinese residents show optimism about returning to normalcy
Chinese residents in Beijing, Shanghai, and Wuhan have stated their optimism about normal living and return to regular activity even though there is a present wave of infections erupting nationwide.
Many are confident that the reopening after China dropped stringent “zero-COVID” measures on December 7 to adopt a strategy of living with the virus would boost the economy; however, after borders had been kept all but shut for three years amid a strict regime of lockdowns and relentless testing.
RESIDENTS’ OPINIONS
Yang, a resident at the Shichahai Lake Park, said, “The epidemic has given us no opportunity to come and play. After the end of this lockdown, we don’t have to scan the health code anymore or check the travel code. So, we are free now.”
Zhong, a 22-year-old college student, who was also at the lake, said he did not leave home for two or three weeks after he had been infected. “Now I can go out, and it’s good timing for the New Year’s Day holiday. I want to go around Beijing, look and feel the festive mood.”
Some business owners also shared their opinions of the changes since the opening, saying, “Traffic is building again on the capital’s roads as people quickly return to outdoor sites, such as lakes, rivers, and shopping malls. But business is still slow at some smaller, confined places such as restaurants.”
“Work production, life, and entertainment are all returning to normal levels. People who had been infected were not as anxious anymore,” Wu from Wuhan told Reuters.
CHINA’S HOLIDAY
China’s biggest holiday, Lunar New Year, begins on January 21 this year, when the railway network is expected to carry 5.5 million passengers, state broadcaster CCTV has said. Regarding the holiday travel, authorities at Tibet’s spectacular Potala Palace said it would open again for visitors from January 3, after closing in August last year due to a COVID-19 outbreak. Some hotels in the tourist attraction of Sanya on the southern island of Hainan are already fully booked for Lunar New Year, as per media reports.
COVID SURGE LATEST REPORT
In recent days state media have sought to reassure the public that the COVID-19 outbreak was under control and nearing its peak. More than 80 percent of those living in the southwestern province of Sichuan have been infected, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Saturday.
But one more COVID death on Monday, the previous day, among China’s population of 1.4 billion does not match the experience of other countries after they reopened. China’s official death toll of 5,250 since the pandemic began compares with more than one million in the United States. Chinese-ruled Hong Kong, a city of 7.4 million, has reported more than 11,000 deaths.
About 9,000 people in China probably die each day from COVID-19, the United Kingdom-based health data firm Airfinity said last week. It noted that cumulative deaths in China since December 1 have probably reached 100,000, with infections at 18.6 million.
Airfinity expects China’s COVID infections to reach their first peak on January 13, with 3.7 million daily infections. China has said it only counts deaths of COVID patients caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure as COVID-related. The relatively low death count is also inconsistent with surging demand reported by funeral parlours in several cities. Lifting curbs after November’s widespread protests have overwhelmed hospitals and funeral homes. Scenes of people on intravenous drips fuel public concern by the roadside and queues of hearses outside crematoria.
Al Jazeera/S.O
