Chinese health authorities reported 6,886 new local cases of Covid-19 for Monday, March 29, including 4,477 in Shanghai, under a bell jar while testing the population. Tests also in Beijing, which is barricading itself against the Omicron wave.
From our correspondent in Beijing, with Louise May, from the RFI office in Beijing
Three days without a single case of contamination and now business is picking up for the private screening centers installed on every street corner in the Chinese capital. On this early morning in the rain, the silhouettes in umbrellas seem to be magnetized by a large blue and white container placed on a sidewalk in the business district. The link serves as a screening booth. Three windows are cut in the sheet metal: one to register, the second to pay for the service, the third to open your mouth in front of the swab held out by a gloved hand.
Wrong place at the wrong time
“When the number of infections was at its highest in mid-March, we had fewer people,” explains an officer in a protective suit at one of the counters. ” Last week, many TGVs were stopped, continues the latter behind his mask and his plexiglass visor. There are businessmen who come here, but as you know, for a business trip, you have to get tested. »
A PCR for business trips and for trips in reality, any exit from Beijing requiring to go through the glottis scraping box. The pre-departure test reassures the health authorities of the destination city. Same thing to come back, unless you had the misfortune to pass through a district where only one case has been reported. In this case, you will have to wait at least 14 days before being able to show your credentials, in this case a green health pass which serves as a sesame on your return to the capital.
At noon the umbrellas are folded up and the queue is gone. Only a few onlookers in a hurry take advantage of lunchtime to get tested. A slightly embarrassed executive dodges the questions: “ Why am I coming here? A pop-up window opened on my health pass, he confides. When I came back to Beijing, I didn’t do my PCR within 72 hours. Uh, let’s just say I forgot. » Except that in the Covid-19 period, big data does not forget you. Next ! It is now, a young woman who advances in front of one of the counters: “ I have to do a test, she says. My sanitary pass turned yellow when I restocked my medicine stock at the pharmacy “.
The purchase of tablets against fever triggers the alarm on health QR codes, the same thing for passing through a risk zone. “ I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, explains a forty-something. I went shopping in the same supermarket as a positive case and my residence committee asks me to do a test a week. The previous ones were free, I have to pay the last one to go back to work “. Betrayed by his smartphone which alerts the health committees of your passage in a risk zone.
An employee of a state media experienced the same misfortune. Six days ago, a positive case passed through a subway station she uses every day to get to the office. As a precaution, his company asked him to telecommute from home for a week. Others, to avoid unpleasant surprises, check the plan of the risk areas before going out, hoping to avoid being confined.
Area ” sealed ”, zone of “control” and zone of “ prevention »
On the map of Beijing on Tuesday, five “sealed” places were pointed in red – two residences, two primary schools and four hospitals – These are medium and high risk areas, sometimes surrounded by sheet metal palisades to better control them. the accesses. Residents are confined to their homes, a supply service is organized. Those who need to go out for medical treatment can do so in specific vehicles and under management in ” closed loop », specify the new rules of the strategy “Zero Covid” adapted to Omicron.
Sanitary tests are carried out on the 1er, 4ᵉ and 7ᵉ day of confinement. Release coming after 14 days with no new confirmed or asymptomatic cases. On the map this afternoon, a dozen places in orange. These are the so-called ” control “, where close contact cases have been reported. Workplace, homes, all colleagues or close neighbors are invited to stay at home. Unlike the red zones, the latter can go out every two days to buy basic necessities. And here too, the lifting of containment also comes after 14 days without new cases of infections in the area.
Finally, this Tuesday, on the map of Beijing, there were also spaces called ” prevention in blue, where gatherings are limited. In the case of shopping malls, meals are generally prohibited inside restaurants and entertainment venues are closed. This strategy would have enabled the Dongcheng district to contain the epidemic. An extinction of the infectious focus celebrated with fanfare on Monday March 28. “ Early decision, prompt control and diligent inspection have completely blocked the spread of the virus “says the documentary” The 14 Days of Dongcheng produced by the District Communist Party Propaganda Department and Beijing Radio.
This does not prevent certain areas from remaining under closed management and the inhabitants from being tested. The arrival of Omicron this winter caused private screening centers to grow like mushrooms. 200 meters from the white and blue container, on the same street, two officers in full protective suits welcome you. As everywhere, the single price of 35 yuan (about 5 euros) is applied. “My company asks me to take a test every 48 time, explains an employee of a cleaning company. I don’t want China to lose control of the epidemic, she adds. For the common people, health is the most important thing. If everyone tests themselves, we feel safe! » An opinion more and more discussed.
Supermarkets, bakeries, real estate agencies, fast food chain, bookstore: more than a hundred businesses had to suspend their activity in six districts of the capital for lack of rigor in the fight against the epidemic, indicates Zhongguo Xingwen official news website. “ Why so many precautions when most infected have no symptoms ? asks a taxi driver. Due to travel restrictions and quarantines, he says he hasn’t seen his parents for two years.