Coronavirus: Zhejiang province orders relaxation of excessive controls to allow life to return to normal

Local authorities in eastern Zhejiang province have been ordered not to overreact to the outbreak of coronavirus, with the provincial government urging its cities and counties to “balance the relationship between controlling the coronavirus and resuming production”.

The coastal province of 57 million residents, which is a key export and manufacturing base, was the first province to request that lower levels of government avoid excessive disruptions to daily life as well as unnecessary delays to economic activities to contain the outbreak in late January.

“Some places have, without proper reasons, spontaneously escalated control measures amid preventing the novel coronavirus. These measures must be stopped,” said a notice issued by the provincial government.

The Zhejiang government notice showed that authorities were trying to correct some of the early draconian measures of restricting people’s movements and business operations after two weeks of road blocks and the quarantining of communities to contain the coronavirus, which has infected over 40,000 people and killed more than 900.

Zhejiang was the first province to declare an A-level response to the outbreak on January 23, a day ahead of Hubei, the epicentre of the outbreak, and it has been the third hardest hit province behind Hubei and Guangdong with 1,092 confirmed cases as of Sunday.

Local authorities “should not freely impose restrictions on normal movement of residents, or close shops of chain stores and convenience stores that sell daily necessities such as vegetables, cooking oil as well as meat, eggs and dairy products,” the Zhejiang government statement added.