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Coronavirus China
ChinaPolitics

Coronavirus in China: amid public fury, Guangzhou districts signal easing of Covid restrictions

  • City officials promise to ‘minimise’ public inconvenience with less mass testing, shorter lockdowns
  • Announcements follow push by top leadership for more ‘targeted and precise’ zero-Covid restrictions

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City officials in Guangzhou have promised to ‘minimise’ public inconvenience with less mass testing and shorter lockdowns. Photo: Weibo
Holly Chik
The southern Chinese city of Guangzhou relaxed Covid-19 restrictions in various districts on Wednesday despite the current outbreak of the virus.
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Amid recent protests against the country’s strict Covid-19 controls, health officials in the manufacturing hub of 19 million people said lockdowns in areas that meet certain conditions should be lifted soon.

“Lockdowns should be put in place and lifted quickly, as well as ended when it is time, to minimise the inconvenience caused to the public by control measures,” Guangzhou health commission deputy director Zhang Yi said on Wednesday.

She added that close contacts of patients who are eligible for home quarantine should do so, while the city tests only people at risk instead of launching mass testing.

In separate announcements, officials from the districts of Baiyun, Liwan and Panyu said all areas under “temporary control” in those respective districts are now deemed low risk. Baiyun, the city’s largest district, was locked down for five days from November 21.

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Other districts including Conghua, Huadu and Tianhe as well as Haizhu, the current epicentre of the latest outbreak, said they will end “temporary controls” in some parts of those districts.

Local authorities stressed that lifting restrictions does not mean giving up on preventing the spread of the coronavirus, and they urged residents to continue to mask up and avoid gatherings.
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