SHANGHAI, Dec 10 (Reuters) – China said on Saturday it would stop screening truck drivers and crews of ships carrying goods nationwide for COVID-19, removing a key bottleneck in its supply chain network. .
The country took a dramatic turn towards economic reopening this week, easing key parts of its zero-COVID policy in a shift that has been welcomed by a weary public but is now stoking concerns that infections could rise and cause further interruptions.
With Beijing requiring fewer tests and allowing those with mild or no symptoms to self-quarantine at home, the focus has shifted to ensuring adequate supplies of medicines and strengthening the country’s health care system, which experts say could be quickly overwhelmed.
Three years after the coronavirus emerged in central China, citizens were eager for Beijing to start aligning itself with the rest of the world, which has largely opened up in trying to live with COVID. After widespread protests, authorities reversed course, sparking fears in a country with a relatively low vaccination rate where people had been taught to fear the disease.
This year, amid massive lockdowns, much of China’s supply chain network has been thrown into chaos by requiring those involved in the transportation of goods to show negative COVID test results or health codes at checkpoints .
The removal of those restrictions aims in particular to ensure the smooth supply of medicines and items such as antigen kits, authorities said.
“No effort should be spared to ensure the smooth delivery of medical supplies,” China’s transport ministry said in a notice.
Long lines have formed at pharmacies in many Chinese cities of people trying to buy cough medicines, flu medicines and face masks, and the state market regulator warned during the weekend against the reduction of the prices of the products against the COVID-19.
China’s state administration for market regulation has issued guidelines to regulate the online sale of medicines, masks, antigen testing reagents and foods, specifically warning internet companies not to “profit from the pandemic”.
In another change, China has agreed to allow Germany to supply BioNTech’s COVID vaccine to German citizens in the country, China’s foreign ministry said on Friday. Until now Beijing had insisted on administering only domestically produced vaccines.
“TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OPPORTUNITIES”
China’s sharp easing has perplexed companies, many of which had been frustrated by the policy but had adjusted on the downside.
Sources at two Western automakers with plants in China told Reuters on Friday they were closely monitoring the situation on the ground.
One expressed concern that the virus could spread rapidly as restrictions are eased, making staff more likely to fall ill and potentially harming production.
Another said the situation was “unpredictable” and that the relief from reopening this week has proved short-lived.
Others, however, describe the reopening as an opportunity to be seized, with major coastal provinces such as Guangdong and Hainan organizing overseas trips to counter trade opportunities lost due to strict COVID border controls.
The city of Dongguan, in China’s manufacturing hub in southern Guangdong province, said it held a conference to mobilize companies to “explore markets and get orders.”
The Dongguan Commerce Bureau said 92 representatives from 52 companies in the city applied to participate in a trade show in the UAE this month. The government is also arranging trips to fairs and exhibitions in places including Hong Kong, Japan and the United States, the office said in a statement.
China, which has all but closed its borders to international travel and curtailed non-essential travel by citizens for nearly three years, reduced its quarantines for incoming travelers by two days last month. Wednesday’s measures made no mention of overseas travel.
China reported 13,585 new locally transmitted COVID cases on Friday, of which 3,034 were symptomatic and 10,551 were asymptomatic. This was down from 16,592 a day earlier and much lower than the all-time highs made earlier this month due to less testing.
(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Brenda Goh; Additional reporting by Jason Xue in Shanghai, Liz Lee in Beijing, and Victoria Waldersee in Berlin; Spanish editing by Manuel Farías)
