Mask-wearing Beijing and Shanghai commuters crowded subway trains yesterday, with China’s two biggest cities edging closer to living with COVID-19, as millions have been infected with the largely unchecked virus across the country.
After three years of ruthless anti-coronavirus curbs, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) scrapped the country’s “zero COVID-19” policy of lockdowns and relentless testing this month in the face of protests and a widening outbreak.
Health experts and residents worry that China’s statistics, which show no new COVID-19 deaths reported for the six days through Sunday, do not reflect the actual number of fatalities, and that the country’s fragile health system is being overwhelmed.
Photo: Reuters
After the initial shock of the policy U-turn, and a few weeks in which people in Beijing and Shanghai stayed indoors, either dealing with the disease or trying to avoid it, there are signs that life is on track to returning closer to normal.
Subway trains in Beijing and Shanghai were packed, while some major traffic arteries in the two cities were jammed with slow-moving vehicles yesterday as residents commuted to work.
“I am prepared to live with the pandemic,” said 25-year-old Shanghai resident Lin Zixin. “Lockdowns are not a long-term solution.”
This year, in an effort to prevent infections from spiraling out of control across the country, the 25 million people in China’s commercial hub endured two months of bitter isolation under a strict lockdown that lasted until June 1.
Shanghai’s lively streets were a sharp contrast with the atmosphere in April and May, when hardly anyone could be seen outside.
An annual Christmas market held at the Bund, a commercial area in Shanghai, was popular among city residents over the weekend. Crowds thronged the winter festive season at Shanghai Disneyland and Beijing’s Universal Studios on Sunday, lining up for rides in Christmas-themed outfits.
The number of trips to scenic spots in the southern city of Guangzhou this weekend increased by 132 percent from last weekend, local newspaper The 21st Century Business Herald reported.
“Now basically everyone has returned to a normal routine,” said a 29-year-old Beijing resident surnamed Han. “The tense atmosphere has passed.”
The world’s most populous country has narrowed its definition for classifying deaths as COVID-19-related, counting only those involving COVID-19-caused pneumonia or respiratory failure, raising eyebrows among global health experts.
The country’s healthcare system has been under enormous strain, with staff being asked to work while sick and retired medical workers in rural communities being rehired to help, state media have reported.
The Zhejiang provincial government on Sunday said that it was battling about 1 million new daily COVID-19 infections, a number expected to double in the days ahead.
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