Hong Kong News

Nonpartisan, Noncommercial, unconstrained.
Thursday, Jun 01, 2023

China Relaxes Zero-Covid Curbs: Here's What Will Change

China Relaxes Zero-Covid Curbs: Here's What Will Change

China Covid: People infected with Covid but with mild or no symptoms can now isolate at home rather than in state-managed facilities.
China rolled back its tough Covid rules on Wednesday, after the restrictions sparked popular unrest and hammered the world's second-largest economy.

Here are some of the major changes announced by Beijing's National Health Commission:

Home quarantine

People infected with Covid but with mild or no symptoms can now isolate at home rather than in state-managed facilities.

This is a reversal of earlier rules, where all infected patients and their close contacts were sent to hospitals or hastily-built isolation centres.

Occupants have complained about grim conditions in many of these facilities -- from bad food to a lack of running water.

Residents can now also buy fever and cold medicines without restrictions, where previously they were forced into fever clinics where they were screened for Covid.

Shorter lockdowns

Snap lockdowns must be applied to more precisely identified areas, including specific buildings, units and floors, instead of shutting down entire neighbourhoods or imposing city-wide lockdowns, the new rules say.

They must also be lifted if no new cases are found for five consecutive days.

The move represents a marked departure from previous rules, which saw millions locked down for months.

Schools must remain open if there is no wider campus outbreak.

The new guidelines also ban the blocking of fire exits and doors by officials, after 10 people perished in a blaze in a sealed building in northwest China's Urumqi, sparking nationwide protests.

Virus controls must also not prevent people from accessing emergency medical treatment, it added, after a string of deaths tied to hospitals turning down patients without negative Covid tests.

No more mass testing

Officials have also scrapped the need for frequent mass testing, saying only "employees in high-risk positions" such as healthcare workers and delivery staff -- as well as those in "high-risk" areas -- will need to take regular tests.

But companies are still permitted to ask workers to produce test results -- meaning testing is far from gone from daily life in China.

Most cities previously also required residents to have a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours to ride public transport or even enter a public park -- rules that no longer apply.

Residents are now also allowed to travel between provinces without a 48-hour test result and will not be asked to test again at their destination.

That shift is expected to boost China's struggling domestic travel industry, hit hard since the onset of the pandemic in late 2019.

Scrapping 'health codes'

The Chinese public is no longer required to show a green health code on their phone to enter public buildings and spaces, except for "nursing homes, medical institutions, kindergartens, middle and high schools."

The widespread use of health codes tracking citizens' whereabouts has raised concerns over privacy, official abuse and data theft.

Five officials in central China's Zhengzhou city were punished in June for deliberately turning thousands of citizens' health codes red to stop them from protesting against a banking scandal.

Despite the changes, China's borders remain largely closed, with inbound travellers still required to quarantine for a week.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Hong Kong News
Close
0:00
0:00
America's Got Talent…
Elon Musk has been showered with praise by the Chinese public during his trip to China
Nvidia Joins Tech Giants as First Chipmaker to Reach $1 Trillion Valuation
Drone Attack on Moscow's Wealthiest Neighborhoods Suspected to be Launched by Ukraine
Elon Musk Meets Chinese Finance Minister in Beijing
AI ‘extinction’ should be same priority as nuclear war – experts
Chinese fighter jet buzzes U.S. Air Force spy plane over South China Sea
Prominent Hacker Forum RaidForums Suffers Substantial Data Breach
Nvidia CEO Huang says firms, individuals without AI expertise will be left behind
WPP Revolutionizes Advertising with NVIDIA's AI Powerhouse
Two US Employees Fired For Chasing Robbers Out Of Store As They Broke ''Company Policy''
Pfizer, the EU, and disappearing ink - Smoke, Mirrors, and the Billion-Dose Pfizer Vaccine Deal: EU's 'Open Secret
The Sussexes' Royal Rebound: Could Harry and Meghan Markle Return to the UK?
A provocative study suggests: Left-Wing Extremism and its Unsettling Connection to Psychopathy and Narcissism
Neuralink Receives FDA Approval for First-in-Human Clinical Study
Ukrainian Intelligence Official Admits to Assassination Attempts on Putin
WATCH THIS: democracy in Russia is so bad!
Ed Davey: It is possible for a woman to have a penis
Bernard Arnault Loses $11.2 Billion in One Day as Investors Fear Slowdown in US Growth Will Reduce Demand for Luxury Products
Russian’s Wagner Group leader: “I am not a chef, I am a butcher. Russia is in danger of a revolution like in 1917.”
TikTok Sues Montana Over Law Banning the App
Ron DeSantis Jumps Into 2024 Presidential Race, Setting Up Showdown With Trump
Steve Jobs introducing Apple's iPhone, exactly 16 years ago.
Banking Behemoth vs Ex-Boss: The PMorgan-Epstein Entanglement
China overtakes Japan as world's top car exporter
Talks between US House Republicans and President Biden's Democratic administration on raising the federal government's $31.4tn debt ceiling have paused
Biden Administration Eyeing High-Profile Visits to China: The Biden Administration is heating things up by looking into setting up a series of top-level visits to Beijing by top officials in the coming months
New evidence in special counsel probe may undercut Trump’s claim documents he took were automatically declassified
A French court of appeals confirmed former President Nicolas Sarkozy's three-year jail term for corruption and influence peddling
Debt Ceiling Crises Have Unleashed Political Chaos
Weibao Wang, a former software engineer at Apple, was charged with stealing trade secrets related to autonomous systems, including self-driving cars
Mobile phone giant Vodafone to cut 11,000 jobs globally over three years as new boss says its performance not good enough
Elon Musk compares George Soros to Magneto, the supervillain from the Marvel Comics series.
Warren Buffett Sells TSMC Shares Over Concerns About Taiwan's Stability
New Study Finds That Secondary Bacterial Pneumonia Is a Major Cause of Death in COVID-19 Patients Who Require Ventilator Assistance
The official tapes of Trump's deposition in the E. Jean Carroll battery (rape) and defamation case have been released.
King Charles III being crowned.
Newly released video of Donald Trump’s rape trial deposition:
Video: Ukraine MP Punches Russian Representative At Global Meet
El Paso mayor has declared a state of emergency
Russia accused Ukraine of attacking the Kremlin with drones in an attempt to kill Putin
Dutch court orders man who fathered 550 kids to stop donating sperm
Kim Kardashian Lookalike Christina Ashten Dies Of Cardiac Arrest, Hours After Plastic Surgery
Samsung has banned employees from using generative AI services such as ChatGPT
'Godfather Of AI' Geoffrey Hinton Quits Google To Warn Of The Tech's Dangers
A Real woman
Vermont Man Charged with Stalking After Secretly Tracking Woman with Apple AirTag
Elon Musk Statements About Tesla Autopilot Could Be 'Deepfakes,' Lawyers Claim. Judge Evette Pennypacker Does Not Understand How Far and Advanced This Technology Became
Ukraine More Prepared for Counterattack as Reinforcements Arrive
Tucker Carlson is back, soon!
×