(Beijing) The Chinese province of Henan (center), one of the most populous in the country, will impose on its 99 million inhabitants a PCR test every 48 hours, China still facing an epidemic outbreak.
Posted at 10:07 a.m.
Unlike others, the country continues to confront the coronavirus with its zero COVID-19 health strategy, which consists in particular of confinements, quarantines and massive screenings as soon as a few cases appear.
Effective in terms of health, with only a few thousand deaths from COVID-19 according to the official report, this policy nevertheless deals a severe blow to China’s economy in the long term.
The general confinement of the port metropolis of Shanghai (East) since the beginning of April, as well as the restrictions and closures of businesses in Beijing, have already led to disruptions in supply chains.
To avoid a fate similar to that of the two largest cities in the country, Henan has decided to impose massive screening, in the hope of identifying positive cases and isolating them as quickly as possible.
“The inhabitants […] must perform a PCR test at least every 48 hours,” according to an article posted on the provincial government’s official website on Sunday.
The province located about 400 km south of Beijing had virtually escaped the last epidemic wave, but has announced dozens of new positive cases in recent days.
Screenings will start before the end of the month in the provincial capital, Zhengzhou, authorities said.
Residents who do not comply with this obligation will not be able to take advantage of the green code which allows access to public transport or public places.
Across the country, the latest daily report announced on Monday reports 800 new contaminations and one death. In total, since the appearance of COVID-19 on its soil at the end of 2019, China has announced just over 220,000 patients and 5,000 deaths.
While these figures are minimal compared to the rest of the world, China nonetheless intends to pursue its zero COVID-19 strategy, which the communist regime uses to justify its authoritarian system.