Undoubtedly, we are moving into more-relaxed times. All the signs are there that life will soon return to normal. But with the Labour Day holiday approaching and people on the move despite dissuasion, that still means tests, more tests and vaccinations.
Nanjing has now notched up 6 consecutive days of zero new cases of COVID, proof that in Nanjing, zero means zero, not “dynamic zero”. PSA Nanjing (南京发布) also reports that in the 24 hours to 00:00 today, four local cases were cured and discharged from hospital, and one asymptomatic case was released from medical isolation observation.
In addition, for the first time in quite some while, the COVID situation in Nanjing today fails to make it into the ten-most read stories on Nanjing daily. Not for China, mind you (which is number 1), but that’s a whole other story.
On the ground, there has also been a change in some of those ghastly, automated announcements. Outside this correspondent’s compound, the announcement that was “Use WeChat, Alipay or the MyNanjing APP to scan the place code” has been this afternoon replaced with a more toned-down, and thankfully-quieter, version, requiring residents to only show their health code.
These are all great indicators, as is the sight of an increasing number of people’s entire faces. But vigilance remains key, particularly if we’d like to see more of the maskless.
Yesterday evening, the top brass held a video conference to analyze where we’re currently at, noting that the epidemic situation in Jiangsu Province is still at a critical juncture. The conference made particular note that the upcoming May Day holiday will bring greater pressure on prevention and treatment, and the slightest mistake may put the efforts of all to waste. Don’t expect any let up in the scanning of health codes etc. until well after the holiday.
So, the en-masse testing also continues, now accompanied by a renewed focus on vaccination, particularly for those over 60. At the other end of the scale, however, it should be noted that this correspondent’s attempts at obtaining the jab for his 11-year old were refused at two different locations in Nanjing in the past few days.
Likewise for attempts made today to send packages to Shanghai by courier. But, slightly further afield, the situation on the roads is improving and there are signs that we may soon get our goodies from locked-down places such as Shanghai.
In the meantime, helping to alleviate the delays to essentials are new policies such as those enacted in neighbouring Anhui Province. Until now, drivers crossing the border of their destination were having to wait in their truck cab for hours while the results of their NAT came through.
Anhui has done away with that. At the border, the driver is now joined by a competent officer after taking a NAT and then proceeds directly to the destination, whereupon the driver and their disinfected goods are released, with the test result having been received in the interim.
In our own Jiangsu, Shanghai-based media outlet, The Paper, this morning ran a report detailing the recent experiences of three truck drivers operating in eastern China.
Among them is Guo Hui, a driver for Nanjing Haoyu Logistics. Guo revealed that as March turned to April, traffic jams along the drive from Nanjing to Shanghai ranged from 3 to 6 hours. But on his most recent trip, Guo clocked 6 hours in total, not much longer than it took before the recent COVID outbreak.
One of the other reasons for the delays was the closure of many toll stations across the Province. That’s now a thing of the past, since as of 25 April, of the 434 expressway toll stations in Jiangsu, 415 were open and seven closed due to construction. That’s an increase of 122 from 10 April.
Han Jianmin is a driver who has witnessed the reopening of toll stations for himself. He set out to drive from Lanling County of Linyi City in southern Shandong Province to Shanghai. Speaking with the media, Han said, “From Lanling to Shanghai, I drove more than 600 kilometres and saw that the toll stations were reopened, with much fewer traffic jams. The road conditions were better than I expected”.
