BEIJING, Dec 11 (Reuters) – Beijing’s COVID-19 gloom deepened on Sunday with many shops and other businesses closed, and an expert warned of many thousands of new coronavirus cases as anger over the China’s previous COVID policies gave way to concerns about dealing with the infection. .
China on Wednesday abandoned most of its strict COVID restrictions after unprecedented protests against them last month, but cities already struggling with their worst outbreaks, including Beijing, saw a sharp decline in economic activity after the elimination of rules such as regular tests.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that many businesses have been forced to close while infected workers are quarantined at home while many others choose not to go out due to the increased risk of infection.
Zhong Nanshan, a prominent Chinese epidemiologist, told state media that the Omicron strain of the virus prevalent in China was highly transmissible and that one infected person could spread it to 18 others.
“We can see that hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands of people are infected in several major cities,” Zhong said.
With routine COVID testing of Beijing residents scrapped and reserved only for groups such as health workers, official records of new cases have plummeted.
Health authorities reported 1,661 new infections in Beijing on Saturday, down 42% from 3,974 on December 6, a day before national policies were dramatically relaxed.
But evidence suggests there are many more cases in the city of nearly 22 million people where everyone seems to know someone who has contracted COVID.
“In my company, the number of people who are negative for COVID-19 is close to zero,” said a woman who works for a tourism and events company in Beijing who asked to be identified only as Nancy.
“We realize that this cannot be avoided: everyone will have to work from home,” he said.
“HIGH RISK”
Sunday is a normal business day for shops in Beijing and is usually lively, especially in places like the historic Shichahai district full of shops and cafes.
But few people were out of their homes on Sunday and shopping centers in Chaoyang, Beijing’s most populous district, were virtually deserted with many salons, restaurants and shops closed.
Economists widely expect China’s road to economic health to be bumpy, as shocks such as labor crises due to workers calling in sick delay a full recovery for some time.
“The zero-COVID transition will allow consumer spending patterns to return to normal, but increased risk of infection will keep in-person spending subdued for months after reopening,” said Mark Williams, chief economist at ‘Asia by Capital Economics. he said in a note.
China’s economy may grow by 1.6% in the first quarter of 2023 from a year earlier and by 4.9% in the second, according to Capital Economics.
Epidemiologist Zhong also said it will take a few months before things return to normal.
“My view is the first half of next year, after March,” he said.
Although China has cleared most of its domestic borders of COVID, its international borders are still largely closed to foreigners, including tourists.
Arriving travelers are subject to five days of quarantine at centralized government facilities and an additional three days of self-monitoring at home.
But there are even signs that this rule could change.
Staff at the main international airport in the city of Chengdu, asked if quarantine rules were being eased, said that starting Saturday whether or not to do the three days of home quarantine would be up to local authorities in a person
(This story has been rewritten to correct the spelling of “woman” in paragraph 9)
Reporting by Ryan Woo, Albee Zhang, Josh Arslan, Liz Lee and Judy Hua; Editing by Robert Birsel
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