'More than half of my colleagues have Covid right now,' one Beijing resident told NBC News of the virus surging through the capital of the world’s most populous country.
, and the capital of the world’s most populous country appears to be facing a wave of infections as the rapid policy shift presents new challenges ahead of the busy winter travel season.
China reported 2,157 new symptomatic infections Thursday, but officials have stopped counting asymptomatic cases and halted mandatory testing. Many people now use rapid test kits at home whose results aren’t often registered, and officials have switched from “prevention” to focusing on “treatment.”“My family is OK, but more than half of my colleagues have Covid right now,” Yueying Wang, 22, a university student who interns at a tech company, told NBC News.Dec.
However, the dizzying policy shift has not been met by scenes of liberation, with many residents seemingly deciding to lock themselves down in an apparent bid to shelter from the waves of uncertainty and infections that have coincided with the reopening.On Wangfujing, a popular pedestrian shopping street in the capital, NBC News witnessed more security guards and police than pedestrians wandering around earlier this week.
Dr. Mike Ryan, the emergencies director at the World Health Organization, told a news briefing Wednesday that he believes Chinese officials saw that lockdowns “were not stopping the disease” and “decided strategically that was not the best option anymore.” , the Chinese Communist Party’s bullish mouthpiece, openly suggested that some may be asked to continue working despite being sick to avoid the risk of patients going untreated.
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