China has hinted at possible relaxing of some of the coronavirus (COVID-19) measures amid growing public frustration and mass protests as the authorities in many parts of the country dealt with the rare task of tackling the demonstrators.
Despite a rise in daily Covid cases, China is now calling the deadly Covid virus no more serious than a “seasonal cold”. The health authorities have also urged the public to not panic.
A recent report by the state-owned Southern Metropolis Daily stated that multiple cities, including Guangzhou and Beijing, were planning to allow some positive Covid cases to quarantine at home.
In a report on Saturday, the South China Morning Post mentioned that a group of health experts in Guangzhou in a public broadcast on Friday said that symptoms caused by the Omicron subvariants were very mild and quite similar to those for seasonal colds.
As quoted by the report, Tang Xiaoping, the director of the No 8 People’s Hospital in Guangzhou, said: “The virulence of the new coronavirus [Omicron] has now evolved to the level of the seasonal flu, and some are even less virulent than the flu, so you really don’t need to panic.” Tang is also the head of the national key clinical department of infectious diseases.
According to the report, Tang also stated that more than 90 per cent of infected patients had no symptoms, and further said that mild cases received the same treatment as that for flu.
On Saturday, Guangzhou reported 4,922 infections. Zhang Yi, the health commission deputy director of Guangzhou said on Friday that only four cases were classified as “severe and critical”.
As quoted by SCMP, she said: “This shows that the virulence of the Omicron variant is significantly lower than previous original strains and other mutant strains.”
She added, “This is not only the characteristic of the Omicron mutant strain, but also related to the improvement of the population’s vaccination immunity and the active prevention measures adopted by our country.”
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China, where the first known Covid case was reported in late 2019, has relied on strict Covid restrictions, the so-called “zero Covid” policy, to curb the spread of cases.
But the controversial policy has been a matter of criticism as experts in the West called out the authorities in Beijing to implement measures while keeping well being of the common people.
On Friday, Covid testing booths were seen being removed in Beijing. On the other hand, Shenzhen was among other cities that announced that commuters don’t need to present their test results to travel.
The case is not the same in parts of the country as a video released on Friday showed protesters pushing open a barrier to gain access to a facility sealed off by authorities in Wuhan.
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