Chinese President Xi Jinping said he was “concerned” about the epidemic situation in the countryside, where tens of millions of Chinese are currently reuniting with their families for the Lunar New Year holidays.
The authorities expect more than two billion trips (car, train, plane, boat) between January 7 and February 15. The Year of the Rabbit begins on January 22.
The arrival in rural areas, which are sometimes medical deserts, of tens of millions of Chinese from cities, where COVID has infected the vast majority of inhabitants, should cause an increase in cases.
Since January 7, some 480 million trips have been made (+47.1% compared to the same period last year), according to the government.
Travelers crowded Thursday into the main stations of the country, happy to be able to return home to spend the holidays, which will begin with New Year’s Eve on Saturday evening.
“I’m not scared at all anymore!” “, told AFP a young woman interviewed in Shanghai, who is about to return to the coastal city of Wenzhou.
“Last year, I was super careful. This year, I feel much more courageous” to take transport, she says.
Another traveler said to be home to his family for the first time in three years.
“One of the first things I will do is hug my mom and dad! “, he explains.
Other passengers are more worried, like two young women dressed in full protective suits.
“We are afraid of contaminating our families, that’s why we bought this”, explains one of them.
“Gaps”
The so-called “zero COVID” health policy was abandoned in early December following the economic downturn and large demonstrations of hostility. Since then, the number of contaminations has soared.
In a series of video calls Wednesday with medical staff, a COVID patient or even workers, Xi Jinping expressed his concern for the campaigns.
“I am particularly concerned about rural areas and our farmer friends, of whom there are many,” he said, according to the Xinhua news agency.
“The conditions of access to quality medical care in rural areas are relatively limited, measures to prevent and control the epidemic are difficult to implement there and the task is therefore difficult. »
If the cities benefit from modern medical infrastructures, the situation is much more uncertain in the rural areas.
Xi Jinping thus called for resolving the “gaps” in the anti-COVID fight in the countryside.
The dramatic rise in cases since December, coupled with the apparent lack of transparency in official statistics, has sparked heated discussion online.
In this context, the China Cyberspace Administration, the Internet policeman, said on Wednesday that it would intensify its fight against “false information” during the holidays in order to prevent “the exaggeration of negative thoughts”.
The organization called for cracking down on “rumors” and “(false) patient testimonies”, fabricated, according to him, to move Internet users. A campaign justified by the desire to eliminate content that “misleads the public”.
” The good choice “
British medical analytics firm Airfinity estimates daily COVID deaths could peak at around 36,000 over the holidays.
The “zero COVID” policy imposed quasi-compulsory screenings several times a week, compulsory placements in quarantine or confinements sometimes as soon as a few cases appeared.
The Chinese could no longer go abroad if they simply wanted to do tourism there.
Effective against the spread of the virus, this strategy has rolled businesses, caused an economic slowdown, thwarted life projects and led to human tragedies which triggered large-scale demonstrations at the end of November.
Xi Jinping, however, felt on Wednesday that it was the “right choice” to have pursued this policy.
China announced on Saturday that it had recorded around 60,000 deaths “linked” to COVID since the beginning of December.
This figure could be greatly underestimated, with testimonies pointing to pressure from hospitals on families not to list COVID as the reason for the death of their loved ones.
Airfinity estimates that more than 600,000 people have died from COVID since the 1er December.