While it’s undoubtedly a relief to many a shop and restaurant owner that they haven’t been closed down, the question on the lips of others is understandably, why? As it turns out, that’s related to both national policy and those pesky NATs.
Yesterday, 20 March, Nanjing added another 10 positive COVID cases, to bring about a new total of 98 in this, the second biggest outbreak in our city since the epidemic began in January of 2020.
Onto today’s nuts and bolts. It’s official. The shops and restaurants stay open, unless a particular locale finds itself at a critical, epidemic-related juncture. That’s the message which has come down from the very top.
To minimise disruption to business was the key takeaway from a meeting held in Beijing late last week by China’s top financial policy committee, reports Bloomberg. Wang Hesheng, who is Deputy Director of the National Health Commission, then spoke at a briefing on Friday, 18 March.
Regarding China’s new(ish) “dynamic zero-COVID policy” strategy, Wang said, “[It] seeks to contain outbreaks with the lowest cost and the shortest time, with quick and targeted response at its core”.
On the economy, Wang also said, “Although the prevention and control measures of dynamic Covid Zero will have some impact on production and life in some regions, the effects are short-term and limited in scope”.
But in order to keep it that way, that translates to coming down heavy on nucleic acid testing (NAT).
To date, Nanjing’s Jiangning and Qinhuai districts have completed three or four rounds of testing, while some more-at-risk sub districts have done so at an even higher frequency.
Rising concern over the number of people in Nanjing who have simply not bothered turning up for a test has led to numerous rumours spreading like wildfire in the last 24 hours. Top in that particular gossip mill is the possibility that your green health code shall magically turn yellow if you don’t get tested.
Less rumour and more likely facts are the reports The Nanjinger has received regarding residential communities. Many are now requiring to see evidence of a negative NAT taken in the previous 48 hours before granting entry to non residents.
Lastly for today, the public service telephone hotline, 12345, set up for epidemic-related inquiries, has of late been fielding around 30,000 calls per day, mostly to do with NATs, the results thereof and health-code issues.
