Beijing’s COVID-19 gloom deepened yesterday with many shops and other businesses closed, and an expert warning of many thousands of new cases as anger over China’s previous disease prevention policies gave way to worry about coping with infections.
China on Wednesday dropped most of its strict “zero COVID” policy rules after unprecedented protests against them last month, but cities that were already battling with their most severe outbreaks, such as Beijing, reported a sharp decrease in economic activity after rules such as regular testing were scrapped.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that many businesses have been forced to close as workers who have the virus quarantine at home, while many other people are deciding not to go out because of the higher risk of infection.
Photo: AFP
Chinese epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan (鍾南山) told state media that the Omicron strain of SARS-CoV-2 prevalent in China is highly transmissible and one person could spread it to as many as 18 others.
“We can see that hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands of people are infected in several major cities,” Zhong said.
With regular COVID-19 testing of Beijing residents scrapped and reserved only for groups such as health workers, official tallies for new cases have plunged.
There were 1,661 new cases in Beijing on Saturday — down 42 percent from 3,974 on Tuesday, a day before national policies were dramatically relaxed — and 10,815 new cases nationwide, the Chinese National Health Commission said yesterday.
However, evidence suggests there are many more cases in Beijing, which has a population of nearly 22 million people, as everyone seems to know someone who has caught COVID-19.
“In my company, the number of people who are COVID-negative is close to zero,” said a woman who works for a tourism and events firm in Beijing who asked to be identified as Nancy.
“We realize this can’t be avoided — everyone will just have to work from home,” she said.
Sunday is a normal business day for shops in Beijing and it is usually bustling, particularly in spots like the historic Shichahai neighborhood packed with boutiques and cafes.
However, few people were out and about yesterday, and malls in Chaoyang, Beijing’s most populous district, were practically deserted with many salons, restaurants and retailers shut.
Economists expect China’s road to economic health to be uneven as shocks such as labor crunches due to workers calling in sick delay a full-fledged recovery.
“The transition out of zero COVID will eventually allow consumer spending patterns to return to normal, but a higher risk of infection will keep in-person spending depressed for months after re-opening,” Capital Economics chief Asia economist Mark Williams said in a note.
Zhong also said it would be some months before China returns to normal.
“My opinion is in the first half of next year, after March,” he said.
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