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MANILA – In the Philippines, tens of thousands flock to political rallies in Manila, and the zoo there is jam-packed. Millions of people in India went out last weekend to celebrate a Hindu festival. And 15,000 fans in South Korea landed in a stadium In Seoul for three nights to see K-pop group BTS perform for the first time since October 2019.

Many Asia-Pacific countries are eradicating the thicket of Covid rules at astonishing speeds, although the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is still raging in some parts of the region. The movements are driven by a mix of medical advice, economic pressures, and the sense that enough is enough for a people fed up with the pandemic.

“God knows we need this break,” said Shelly Bacallia, 29, who took her son to the Manila Zoo for the weekend. Punishing covid quarantines. “We’ve been trapped for the past two years.”

There is at least one major caveat to the trend: Mainland China adhering to “generally” principleszero covid” approach adheres to the lockdowns and tight border controls it has implemented since the beginning of 2020. State-controlled media stress that the country with a population of 1.4 billion has by far the best track record in controlling the virus. He points to China’s low numbers as a sign of the country system’s supremacy, while playing off other countries’ pandemic death and sickness tolls.

But experts have questioned the wisdom of this approach, because the country grappled with its biggest epidemic Factories have suspended work and truck traffic has been delayed since the outbreak began in Wuhan — Worn out supply chains with wheezing.

“China’s zero-Kovid policy will leave it, and to the extent that it follows, Hong Kong increasingly isolated,” said law professor Victor V. Ramraj, who edited a recent collection of articles on Covid-era legal policy in the region. and teaches at Victoria University in Canada.

Hong Kong, a Chinese region whose Covid policies once mirrored those of the mainland, this week diverged in its strategy, which involved a huge cost. Previously, with tight border controls, the region had tied itself to the outside world, crushing an economy based on international trade.

On Monday, Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, announced the lifting of the ban. flights from nine countries and signaled plans to further relax Covid rules. The changes, however, came as the territory was. experiencing a major epidemicthe city with Covid Death rate currently among the highest in the world, three per 100,000 people. Corpses pile up next to Covid patients in hospitals and Morgues are filling up fast.

But almost everywhere in Asia, the virus has steadily retreated with speed dictated by rules, epidemiology, economic imperatives or political pressures.

In India, where there were once enormous Covid outbreaks killed hundreds of thousands, restrictions there have largely disappeared in recent weeks, except for the requirement to wear masks. Last weekend, millions of people celebrated Holi, a Hindu spring festival where people throw colored dust at each other.

S. Sivaraman, 68, an advertising executive in the capital New Delhi, went to a Holi party held in a park with his family and nearly 100 neighbors. He said the traumas of the pandemic were briefly forgotten as people rushed around and powdered each other.

“We felt so happy to be out of the cage,” he said, “to meet people freely and hug each other.”

Thailand has been gradually easing entry conditions for foreign tourists in recent months. In Indonesia, a major driver of the country’s tourism industry, Bali has reopened faster than the rest of the country; It was among the first provinces to lift the quarantine for foreign travelers.

There is some concern that the Indonesian central government may impose new restrictions on Bali during the Ramadan holiday, which began in April. But Theresia Elena, general manager of Dash Hotel Seminyak in Bali, said she was not worried.

“This will not happen,” he said. “This is Bali. We were given sweet promises.”

New Zealand’s first warning of the virus has become politically untenable this year, after business groups called for fewer restrictions and citizens living abroad protested against return restrictions. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday that from April 4, vaccine passes will no longer be required to enter public facilities, and vaccine authorizations will be lifted for education, health, police and defense workers.

The South Korean government said this month it will loosen several antivirus measures under similar pressure from businesses. Outgoing chairman Moon Jae-in eased the rules amid an election campaign in which the ruling party’s candidate sought to vote on the promise of relaxing pandemic rules, including nighttime curfews and curfews from long-suffering small business owners. The number of people allowed to gather in public is limited.

Jacob Lee, an infectious disease specialist at Hallym University in South Korea, criticized the change. above all, it had been an “openly political decision”.

“Increasing social distancing would be the right and scientific thing to do,” he said. “But South Korea has taken the absurd step of loosening the distance preventively,” he said.

Japan, which maintains some of the strictest entry barriers, is also considering lifting quarantine requirements for foreign businessmen and students. More Southeast Asian countries are accepting tourists, including Cambodia and Vietnam travelers are disappointed with vague guidelines about quarantines and testing.

In the Philippines, during the campaign rallies for the presidential elections to be held in May, Covid protocols remained in the background. Tens of thousands of people flocked to Manila’s Ortigas business district last weekend to see Leni Robredo, a candidate to replace departing president Rodrigo Duterte. It was the largest public meeting in the country in two years.

At the same time, masks are still required in public places, some schools are still running classes online, and social distancing reminders are still being pasted around venues.

This includes the Manila Zoo, where Ms. Bacallia’s 7-year-old son received a second dose of Covid vaccine as a condition of admission at a pop-up clinic last weekend. He is afraid of needles and starts a fight.

“But it’s good we can get out now,” he said. “We said to him, ‘We’re going to the zoo, but you need a pin before you can get in.’ That helped calm him down.”

The question now is how long China can maintain its zero Covid policy.

This month, authorities imposed strict restrictions on the movement of residents in the two major cities. Shanghai and Shenzhenin a day where each megacity reports less than 70 new cases.

But there are signs that even China does. change your approachThe country’s leader, Xi Jinping, has urged authorities to limit the economic pain of the country’s Covid response.

Still, virus checks retain the support of many.

Ryan Liu, 33, who works for an internet company in Shenzhen and has barely left the house this month, said he is happy to make sacrifices for the greater good.

“In our opinion, or in the opinion of most of us, we prefer such strict control measures.” “We have to take some precautions and we can’t let it go.”

Jason Gutierrez reported from Manila and Mike Ives and Victoria Kim from Seoul. Contributed by reporting Hari Kumar in New Delhi, Keith Bradsher in Beijing, Muktita Suhartono Indonesia, Jakarta and Amy Qin and Amy ChangChien in Taipei, Taiwan. Li You contributed to the research.