Multiple Chinese cities have canceled routine mass COVID-19 tests this week, days after Beijing announced limited relaxations of its strict “zero COVID-19” policy which raised hopes of China’s eventual reopening.
The Chinese National Health Commission (NHC) on Friday last week issued 20 rules for “optimizing” “zero COVID-19,” where certain restrictions were relaxed to limit its social and economic impact.
China reported more than 20,000 new infections yesterday — the highest figure since April — with major outbreaks in the cities of Guangzhou and Chongqing.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Routine mass polymerase chain reaction testing is one of the key tools used to trace outbreaks, with cities such as Beijing and Shanghai requiring residents to show 72-hour test results to enter public spaces and use public transport.
However, many complain that it wastes time and long lines increase transmission risk, while operating free testing services has heavily strained local government budgets.
Shanghai abolished mandatory mass testing by city district on Sunday, China News Service reported citing anonymous local officials.
However, officials said that it would “only be carried out when the source of infection and transmission chain are unclear, and it has been spreading in the community for a long time,” echoing language from the NHC announcement.
Shijiazhuang, a city of 11 million in northern Hebei Province, also vowed on Sunday to implement the 20 measures in an open letter to residents.
China Newsweek reported that routine mass testing had been canceled, except for “key groups,” citing local officials.
Social media users reacted with celebration, but also alarm, with many complaining yesterday that parcels could not be sent from the city due to strict virus controls by other local governments.
“I’m speechless, why doesn’t the whole country open up instead of using Shijiazhuang as an experimental site?” one local resident wrote on Sina Weibo. “We cannot travel elsewhere and parcels don’t get delivered here, I can’t leave the city to take an exam, it’s disgusting.”
Other cities, including Yanji in northeastern Jilin Province and Hefei in eastern Anhui Province, also canceled routine mass testing earlier this week.
The new rules say the “scope of nucleic acid testing shall not be expanded” and that mass testing would not be conducted in areas without outbreaks except for “key personnel and sites of employment.”
The measures also urged local governments to “correct unscientific practices such as two or three tests per day.”
Meanwhile, authorities yesterday locked down a major university in Beijing after finding one COVID-19 case.
Peking University students and faculty were not allowed to leave the grounds unless necessary and classes were moved online on one campus through tomorrow, a university notice said.
Beijing reported more than 350 new cases in the previous 24 hours, a small fraction of its 21 million population, but enough to trigger localized lockdowns and quarantines.
Additional reporting by AP
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