China continues to unravel its Zero Covid Policy. China will no longer compel entering travellers to undergo quarantine beginning on January 8, as the government dismantles the relics of a zero-Covid regime that cut it off from the rest of the world for nearly three years. It has loosened its restrictions over the past month in response to recent upheavals brought on by the zero covid policy. For the first time, infected individuals with minimal or no symptoms are permitted to isolate at home rather than in centralised facilities. The National Health Committee stated that more than 90% of Omicron variant cases were "mild or asymptomatic," signalling a change in attitude as the coronavirus spreads throughout a nation which, up until recently, was only a small portion of the 1.4 billion people had been infected.
Zero-Covid required Chinese individuals to take tests every few days at booths located around the country's major cities and scan a code with their phones to enter buildings. However, as recently as late November, people in Shanghai were still being sent to central quarantine because they were close contacts of positive patients at bars. As cases mounted quickly, such procedures have virtually ceased.
Civilians pictured doing Covid tests at a booth in the city
On Sunday before eliminating the requirement for inbound quarantine, the National Health Committee said on Sunday that it will stop publishing daily case tally reports and turn the responsibility over to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In light of the lowered classification, the CDC announced on Tuesday that it will only share Covid data once a month.
China's immigration office has stated that it will resume issuing visas for mainland residents to travel overseas beginning on January 8, a crucial move for the reopening of the country. On the same day, authorities will resume granting coveted Hong Kong entrance permits for business or travel, according to the National Immigration Administration, as well as visa extensions and new permissions for foreign passport holders. The new regulations are designed to make it easier to travel again for work, school, and family gatherings. However, it is unknown if China will resume accepting tourists.
China is currently confronting a serious outbreak, with estimated cases soaring into the hundreds of millions and an estimated 250 million individuals being infected in just 20 days, piling pressure on health facilities. Models indicate that the virus might cause up to one million deaths, despite the fact that China's public data no longer reflects the reality of the situation and other zero-Covid regulations, such as mass testing, have been completely abandoned.
The abrupt removal of restrictions has already put enormous strain on China's healthcare system, particularly in Beijing, which was one of the epicentres of the outbreak previous to the policy's abandonment and was believed to be the city best prepared. Emergency rooms have run out of temporary beds for patients, the infirm must wait hours for ambulances, and many professionals are too ill to work due to Covid. Some institutions are so overcrowded that they are running out of oxygen supplies for patients with respiratory issues. “All the doctors are laid up, we don’t have anywhere to send patients because other departments don’t have enough doctors,” said a neurologist on duty at the Beijing Friendship Hospital.
Recent economic data have illuminated the Zero Covid Policy’s costs. In November, retail sales plummeted 5.9% year over year, worse than analyst projections, and the economy is on track to fail its annual growth target of 5.5%, which was already the lowest in decades. However, analysts have also cautioned about the economic and corporate repercussions of the virus as it spreads across the country, with Apple among the companies susceptible to future supply chain problems.
Specialists have warned of an increasing possibility of months-long disruption to the manufacture of iPhones as a result of the major coronavirus outbreak in China threatening the company. Apple experiences a shortage of between 5mn and 15mn iPhones. Assuming that unfilled orders would be delayed rather than cancelled, several analysts had initially increased their predictions for the upcoming six months. However, given that modelling indicates 1 million Chinese people are at risk of dying from COVID during the upcoming winter months, the threats to Apple's profits for 2023 have escalated. Despite the fact that more than 90% of iPhones are made in China, sales in that country account for 5% of Apple's total income. Due to employee sickness, one Apple store in Beijing's main shopping area has already had to reduce hours last week.
Apple's manufacturing and operational difficulties of the past several months may be followed by a demand crisis in China as customers rethink their purchasing priorities. “The next two to six months really will be a defining moment for Apple’s supply chain, because of China’s immaturity of handling Covid”, “The rest of the world has developed standards, but China has been almost non-existent in getting companies to embrace those standards” said Alan Day, chair of State of Flux, a London-based supply chain consultancy that has been working with the UN on corporate standards for responding to Covid outbreaks.
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