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China will conduct its fifth national economic census in 2023 to take stock of the country's economic and social development, a move that comes as the country braces for a slew of tone-setting economic symposiums in December, including the annual Central Economic Work Conference, which will lay out the macroeconomic policy foundation for a head start next year.
Chinese cities including Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu, where the virus is rife, have continued to optimize their anti-epidemic policies in recent days, with Guangzhou resuming businesses, allowing dine-in services in low-risk areas; and shopping malls gradually opening in Beijing starting Thursday. Some cities have also started to allow close contacts to have home quarantine under certain conditions and exempt some groups from routine nucleic tests.
Beijing has once again come under the shadows of an epidemic flare-up only few days after it announced a cautious reopening of public venues. The city saw a strongest cluster infection stemming from a bar in one of its busiest downtown streets with a scale and severity larger than all previous ones, which has resulted in 166 related infections in four days.
New COVID-19 cases in Beijing have fallen for nine consecutive days, but risks of a resurgence still exist as one new confirmed case was reported outside controlled areas in Changping district on Tuesday.
Beijing and Shanghai, China's two megacities, are gradually walking out of the shadow of Omicron outbreaks, providing valuable experiences for the country in carrying out the dynamic zero-COVID strategy that once again proves to be the most effective approach in containing the highly contagious virus at the minimum costs to the economy and people's life.