The number of people infected with the new coronavirus around the world exceeded 640 million, and the number of deaths exceeded 6.6 million. But as the number of infected people increased, we began to understand how to deal with it. The global economy, which has been exhausted by this pandemic, seems to be on the road to recovery. Despite the increase in infections, the movement to resume economic activities has become noticeable. Under such circumstances, it seems that China, an economic powerhouse, has suddenly changed its zero-corona policy. When China is in step with the rest of the world, the economy will flow smoothly.
So, I tried to find out what happened in China. Government officials who emphasize economic policy seem to be searching for an "exit" for the "zero corona" policy, which thoroughly contains the corona. Government officials responsible for dealing with the coronavirus have been watching other countries lift their social restrictions related to the coronavirus. There have been cases that this has surfaced since around June of this year. Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, who is in charge of dealing with the coronavirus, said the conditions were in place for further optimization of prevention and control measures. More recently, she noted a weakened omicron-type virulence. She seems to be thinking of more relaxed measures than the zero corona measures so far. A year ago, when China seemed to be successful in its zero-corona measures, the world situation has changed dramatically.
Britain, which had more infected people per population than Japan, lifted legal restrictions on the coronavirus in February. In February, the movement restrictions were completely abolished, and it was said that there was no need to isolate even if infected. In other countries, they have begun to seek ways to coexist with the coronavirus. The movement from isolation to liberation is becoming mainstream. In May, inbound-related stocks such as travel agencies, duty-free shops, and department stores began to hit new highs. Rising stock prices have become one of the leading indicators of economic conditions in society. Global vaccine production is expected to exceed 10 billion doses in 2021, a significant increase compared to 2020. Global vaccine production in 2022 is also expected to remain at a high level. When Chinese tourists come to Japan, it may be one of the purposes of traveling to get a vaccine and return. It seems that the time has come to take flexible measures rather than zero corona and explore measures to smooth the global supply chain.