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YUNNAN: Amid mounting pressure from imported cases, especially after various forms of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) mutations were discovered globally and continued sporadic domestic cases, the Chinese central government called on people reduce mobility and gatherings during the upcoming New Years and Spring Festival holidays.
Chinese analysts believe that the world’s largest population migration during the holidays will increase the risks of a Covid-19 resurgence in China, and measures such as imposing a blockade on a city are possible if the risk continues to grow.
However, this year’s outbreak during the Spring Festival will not be repeated next year, as China has gained enough experience in preventing and controlling the disease.
According to a notice on the New Year holidays and Spring Festival issued by the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council of China on Thursday, governments across the country should be under constant surveillance to prevent cases. imported and rebound of nationals. cases and reduce people’s mobility and gatherings during the two main festivals.
Local governments should also prevent infections resulting from imported products and standardize personal protection, regular monitoring and nucleic acid testing for those in direct contact with them, and take strict sanitation measures in key locations, according to the advisory.
Also on Thursday, Beijing Party chief Cai Qi told a meeting that public officials and people working in state-owned enterprises in the capital should take the initiative to stay in Beijing during the upcoming holidays.
Beijing will also cut back on Spring Festival-related events and encourage companies to stagger their holidays, asking residents to stay in Beijing during the holiday period, according to the meeting.
Recent outbreaks of Covid-19 in several cities and mutations of the virus detected in several countries, including the UK, have been driving some Chinese away from going on their annual Spring Festival holidays.
Many are concerned that the Spring Festival travel rush, the world’s largest human migration, could bring a resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic in China.
Some Chinese said they would cancel their travel plans and stay where they were to avoid possible infections during the travel rush, and some said they would return home early.
A Beijing-based immunologist who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Friday that people should stay where they are during the holidays, as human migration during the Spring Festival will increase the risks of transmission of the virus.
“It is possible to impose a blockade on a city or cancel the Spring Festival travel rush if the pressure on prevention continues to increase,” said the immunologist.
Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told China Central Television on Thursday night that it is normal for China to have sporadic cases when Europe, America and Asia have seen drastic new waves of the virus. and China’s monitoring system. can detect such sporadic cases in a timely manner.
This week, various places in China reported cases of Covid-19, with Shenyang in Liaoning, in northeast China, entering ‘war mode’ and Beijing reporting new cases.
But Chinese experts assured that the outbreak during the Spring Festival this year will not be repeated next year. The 40-day Spring Festival travel rush will begin on January 28, 2021 and end on March 8, authorities said.
About 2.97 billion trips were made during the 2018 Spring Festival travel rush and about 2.98 billion in 2019.
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