Alright, let's get to John lu now Bloomberg's executive editor in Beijing here to talk about the latest on the China COVID situation. And John, I want to start with some of the rhetoric that was seeing in state media. There was one article in Shinway that caught my eye, in particular urging people to take responsibility for their own health and follow good hygiene habits. So is this an example of the government really stepping back in the COVID fights?
How important is this sort of wording. I think what the government is trying to do now is to change the public narrative around what COVID is and how China and how the Chinese public should react to it. I mean, prior to this, China the official narrative was that COVID was this really dangerous disease, that it was pathanogenic, that people could die, and and we saw an example of this the city of should Draw, which is not far
from Beijing. Uh there, two weeks ago there was a rumor that should Drawn might become the sort of testing ground for opening up and it actually spooked the population there because people thought, you know, that it would result in mass infections. And that's mass deaths and people started panic buying. And so before China can actually open up, they really need to get the public perception of the virus change, to see the virus, says, being less dangerous,
maybe something akin to the flu. But this move to kind of relax COVID restrictions, the pivot on the part of the government has been stunning, I mean, and you've got to trace it back I think to last Saturday night.
In some of the protest, young people out in force, and they managed, from what I'm reading on Bloomberg, to exploit some of the gaps in the firewall where the Internet is concerned, and news of this was shared on social media and by word of mouth at a very quick rate, maybe quicker than the censors were kind of
prepared for, if at all. It talked to me a little bit about the extent to which young people in China are are influencing the conversation now, because you know, the context here is that they've been stressed enormously and you can only look at the unemployment rate among young people.
I think the fact that protesters were able to organize, to get not organized, but to get the word out that there was a protest happening that drew crowds, that drew more people there I think speaks to how widespread dissatisfaction with China's COVID policy has been because you know, the country has a sophisticated, far reaching censorship regime and it was overwhelmed because there was too much being posted on social media, too many videos, too many comments, too
much communication. There was just no way for that censorship to be to be undertaken, uh as it does on a day to day basis, And that was because there was so many people I think over the last three years this year, especially with mcrons spreading so broadly across the country, the amount of lockdowns and testing and the burden on people was just building to a point that I think, you know, uh, there was something was going to break and something good and that's that's what we saw.
And Sadden, Yeah, things of it quiet and down since them. But do you since that we've seen the last of the protests, what's the mood on the ground, Well, I think the I think more protests this weekend are relatively unlikely, and I think that's the that is the case because because one the government is responding as you guys have talked about, there are various measures being undertaken to try
and relieve some of this burden. You know, in Beijing, for example, we just had a story yesterday that the city authority is going to allow people to who are infected to quarantine at home. That's gonna be a huge thing for people, because a lot of people here were more scared of being sent an isolation facility than they were of the virus itself. As if you take that off the table, it's gonna make people feel much better.
That those steps, combined with the fact that there are just so many police out on the streets now, combined with the fact that, you know, the government has very publicly warned people that you know, they are not going to tolerate behavior that mass demonstrations and opposition of the government, and so I think it's pretty clear to people that if they anybody who chooses to go out and demonstrate this weekend is going to do so a great risk. And I think that means we're probably not going to
see gatherings over the next two days. John, earlier this hour we were chatting Paul and I were chatting with ting Lu Chief China economist at Nomura, and he has prepared for a big spike in COVID infections that may go on for several months from where you sit in Beijing. Is the health care system able to handle this if if there is that kind of shock and spike in cases that need treatment. I think the answer is potentially no. And the number of ICU beds in China per you know,
thousand people is very low. The health care system outside of the big cities outside your Beijing, Shahai, Shinjin, Gwandjo is fragile. If there is a big spike in serious cases, I think it would put a lot of pressure on the healthcare system. And I think that's what that's what had had the government concerned about opening up, why they've been so reluctant to do so. We've seem some size that they're doing a new push to get seniors, those
over eighty vaccinated. There's a report out today from Taishi magazine saying that the government is targeting getting those over eighty at least one shot. I think that's that. That's stat right now is hovering around seventies, so it's a big jump and they want to get it done by the end of January. So the challenge is very don I have to say, yeah, and the hospitals up to the task. Uh, I think that's I think it's questionable.
I think it's very very questionable. And you know that the government's going to try to do as much as it can. But you know, this is this is where the danger lies in terms of an exit, in terms of a messy exit, is you know, the first the initial first couple of months could be really difficult for this country. Yeah, and I'm just wondering if any of the policy changes we've seen, do you feel that there's a response to the protests or was this or just
gonna happen anyway, just quickly. I think this is gonna happen anyway. I think the protests have accelerated the pace and speed at which China has exiting covies. You run, all right, John Lou, We will have to leave it there, but thanks so much for joining us. John On is Bloomberg's executive editor in Beijing.