As I see itChina is on the cusp of reopening after three years of Covid. But is the world ready?

Name: China opens thousands of ‘fever clinics’ as it shifts Covid focus from prevention to treatment
Uploaded: 2022-12-23T01:00:18.000Z
Duration: 3 min 16 s
Description: China opens thousands of ‘fever clinics’ as it shifts Covid focus from prevention to treatment

Easing restrictions will allow producers in China to ramp up operations, just as the world tries to return production output to pre-pandemic levels

But reopening will also mean an increase in overseas Chinese tourists, which could potentially trigger a surge in coronavirus cases

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People wearing face masks enter a subway station in Beijing. Photo: Reuters

Joseph Sipalan

Published: 9:00am, 23 Dec 2022

China’s progressive easing of its uncompromising zero-Covid strategy has triggered equal parts optimism and anxiety, as international markets weigh the re-entry of the world’s second-largest economy at a time when nations remain wary of a possible global recession due to surging commodity prices and red-hot inflation over the past year.

Two weeks ago, China’s powerful State Council softened its stance on managing the pandemic, scrapping daily mass testing, health codes and centralised quarantine requirements for most cases.

The new measures are being viewed by many as the beginning of the end to three years worth of strict Covid restrictions that crippled global supply chains as China’s manufacturing and exports plummeted.

Easing restrictions will allow key producers in China to quickly ramp up operations and match the rest of the world’s pace as it seeks a return to pre-pandemic productivity levels.

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China opens thousands of ‘fever clinics’ as it shifts Covid focus from prevention to treatment

China’s gross domestic product for 2023 is expected to get a boost from economic activity in the second half of the year, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).