President of China: "We are in a difficult time, but there is light of hope"
The President of China Xi Jinping has said that "there is light of hope " as his country faces an explosion of COVID-19 cases after the sudden lifting of health restrictions, reports AFP.
Three years after the first cases of the coronavirus appeared in Wuhan, China abruptly ended its draconian policy dubbed "zero COVID" on December 7. After the lifting of the restrictions, Chinese hospitals are overwhelmed by the growing number of sick people, most of them elderly, crematoria are also full, and many pharmacies lack fever medicines, reports Agerpres. Moreover, China on Saturday reported more than 7,000 new positive cases and one new death associated with COVID-19 in a population of 1.4 billion. These much reduced figures seem to be in a total gap with the reality on the ground. Despite this epidemic wave, Chinese authorities will on January 8 lift the mandatory quarantine upon arrival in China and allow citizens to travel abroad after three years of bans. At the same time, as a precautionary measure, several European countries, including France, Italy, the USA, and Japan, have announced that they will require passengers from China to present negative tests for COVID-19.
