China does not tolerate a single corona infection but makes corona testing almost mandatory in millions of cities. For example, in Beijing, a population of twenty million people has to take the test practically every other day.
BEIJING Cubic corona test booths and long queues of people have now become an everyday part of the street scene in Beijing and Shanghai. Hands dressed in rubber gloves peek through the holes in the window of the booth, ready to insert the swab into the throat of the test subject opening their mouth outside the glass.
Residents of hot Beijing have to queue outside for a PCR coronavirus test every other day. You can’t get to the subway, the mall, or really just about any public place unless you can show your cell phone a certificate of coronavirus testing that is no more than two days old. A test within 72 hours is required in Shanghai.
City dwellers are relieving their frustration on social media. Most commentators in Beijing complain on the Twitter-style Weibo platform that the compulsion to test makes everyday life difficult.
– Don’t say they meet the needs of the townspeople. We don’t need this. You created this need, writes the user.
– The 48-hour test is far too often, says another Beijinger in Weibo.
– Don’t say it’s free. We pay this in tax money, criticizes the third.
The queues meander tens of meters if not more in places and slow down the daily lives of the residents. Many try to queue up after work.
– The queue is always too long. Which company can give its employees 1-2 hours every other day to queue during business hours? the commentator complains in Weibo.
In a million cities only a handful of infections every day
The Beijingers interviewed by were in favor of regular testing.
– It doesn’t bother me. There are test booths close to home and work. I take the test every day, only with my last name Li the man presenting himself says.
He says routine testing is necessary to keep hospitals from being overburdened and infections to remain low.
Guoks the introductory woman says she also takes the test every day, even though the city requires a test no more than two days old. He denies queuing at the test would be a hassle.
– Of course, some others may be annoyed, he says.
He considers testing important.
Millions of Shanghai people in corona quarantine finally got out of their homes for the first time in months this week. In the capital, Beijing, interest rate restrictions have also been relaxed.
In both major cities, more than ten infections are detected daily.
Omikron has not completely disappeared, but China sees that it has once again beaten the latest wave of corona infection with its hard efforts. Shanghai had the highest rate of nearly 20,000 self-infections per day, according to authorities. According to the authorities, 13 infections were detected in Shanghai yesterday, compared to 14 in Beijing.
China does not see the liberation of Shanghai as a surrender to its strict policy of eradicating the last coronavirus infection. There are still buildings in quarantine in Shanghai.
Millions of testing have been at the heart of China’s coronal line since the beginning of the pandemic. When a single infection is detected, the entire suburb may be subjected to a corona test several times. In Shanghai, for example, people isolated in their homes were tested at their densest even once a day.
China has carried out 11.5 billion corona tests since the beginning of the pandemic in mid-April, according to the China Health Commission.
Routine testing is required in many places around China. For example, nearly one hundred million people in Henan Province, East China, are tested for corona every other day. Truck drivers cannot get from one province to another without a corona test certificate.
According to the National Health Commission, routine testing should be done especially in provincial capitals and cities with more than ten million inhabitants.
Test booths and queues of people are also frequent around Beijing.
Testing hundreds of millions of citizens is expensive. If a total of 500 million people living in China’s largest cities were to be tested on an ongoing basis, it would cost China nearly $ 240 billion a year, according to an economist at Soochow Securities. South China Morning Post (go to another service). This would be 1.5 percent of China’s GDP last year.
Finance company Nomura, meanwhile, will cut the price by 8.4 per cent of government public spending if China tests 70 per cent of the population every other day, according to Bloomberg news agency.
The bill falls on local governments. The Ministry of Finance has urged them to set aside enough money for routine testing.
Corona measures and the central government’s tough action against construction and technology companies are already straining the finances of local governments. They have lost revenue because they can no longer sell plots of land to construction companies. The number of jobs has also decreased.
What do you think of China’s corona action? You can discuss the topic until Saturday, June 4 at 11 p.m.