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People queued on Monday outside fever clinics at China’s hospitals to check if they had COVID-19, a new sign of the rapid spread of symptoms after authorities began dismantling stringent measures against the disease.
Three years into the pandemic, China is moving slowly to align with a world that has largely opened up to live with COVID, making a major policy change last Wednesday after unprecedented protests against its stifling curbs.
It has dropped testing prior to many activities, limited quarantine and is preparing on Monday to de-activate a mobile app used to track the travel histories of a population of 1.4 billion people.
But with little exposure to a disease largely held in check until now, China is ill-prepared, analysts say, for a wave in infections that could heap pressure on its fragile health system and drive businesses to a halt.
“I’m really afraid of being infected, because the number of infected people is growing gradually in Beijing,” an 18-year-old student, surnamed Tan, told Reuters as he walked along a street in the capital’s upmarket Chaoyang district.
“But I must come out and run some errands today,” he added.
