China is updating its protocols to confront Covid-19

Epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan, the most important voice here on this topic, said that the new version of the health guide will lead to the gradual reopening of the country, and should have a positive effect on stabilizing its growth.

He stressed that the amendments do not mean that the government is ignoring the epidemic, as it will continue to focus on prevention and treatment of the most severe cases.

In this sense, Zhong urged speeding up the vaccination campaign and vaccinating as many people as possible before the Lunar New Year holiday in January, when a large number of people will travel across the national territory.

However, he noted that infection with the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus produces a similar level of antibodies as injections and patients can recover within seven to 10 days, if they do not develop severe cases of Covid-19.

Some observers speculate that updating health protocols could officially mean the end of the zero Covid-19 strategy, which has been strictly implemented in China since 2020.

In recent days, the government has taken continuous steps to streamline the epidemiological mechanism, ensure social and economic development, and eliminate controversial practices that have caused inconvenience to the population and unleashed unprecedented protests.

In this context, the cessation of mass confinement and the end of PCR tests for access to any public location, with the exception of schools, health centers and ancestral homes, as well as the possibility of recovery at home, stands out.

China also initiated a second booster vaccination, authorized the import of the US pill Paxlovid, and gave asymptomatic people and others a chance to recover at home.

But at the same time, there is an increase in the number of patients and long queues at the health centres, so much so that more fever clinics have begun to be set up across the country to reserve hospitals only for those in critical condition.

There is also a shortage in pharmacies of antipyretic drugs, antigen tests and the most requested drugs for the treatment of Covid-19 and common influenza, because they manifest themselves in a similar way.

The authorities promised to step up the offensive against the indiscriminate rise in prices for these products and would seek to stabilize supplies.

China has recorded a record of more than 30,800 deaths and nine million confirmed cases in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan since the emergence of the coronavirus in December 2019.

jcm/ymr