(Beijing) Residents in China can now go to work “normally” even if they have COVID-19 symptoms, authorities have said, in a country where a single case could previously lock down thousands of people .
China abruptly did an about-turn earlier this month and lifted most of the health restrictions in place for nearly three years, after the first cases of the coronavirus appeared in the city of Wuhan (center).
Since the lifting of restrictions, a wave of cases has swept over the country, but the authorities are trying to reassure people about the benign nature of the virus despite its contagiousness.
The municipality-province of Chongqing (southwest), which has more than 30 million inhabitants, is one of the first to authorize the return to work despite symptoms of COVID-19.
“Asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients can go to work normally,” said a notice from local authorities published on Sunday.
The document stipulates that no screening test will no longer be required, with the exception of schools or health establishments.
This is a spectacular reversal of the health strategy of the most populous country on the planet.
In the name of a strict so-called “zero COVID-19” policy, the Chinese were recently subjected to almost daily screenings and mandatory quarantines in the event of a positive PCR test. Districts or even entire cities could be confined as soon as a handful of cases were discovered.
The government is now encouraging people to isolate themselves at home when symptoms of COVID-19 appear.
At the other end of the country, the province of Zhejiang, bordering Shanghai, has also decided that people with mild symptoms can “continue to work” provided they take “protective measures”.
Experts fear China is ill-equipped to deal with this wave of infections as the country continues to reopen, with millions of vulnerable elderly people yet to be vaccinated.
Beijing and its 22 million inhabitants are particularly affected by this wave of contamination, totally unprecedented in the city since the beginning of the pandemic and which has spread at lightning speed in recent days.
Retirement homes are now on their own, according to several testimonies collected by AFP.