The China Ministry Of Health just announced some MAJOR relaxations on Covid Control Policy at 1.30pm, Dec 7th, and confirmed by the official announcement.
• Seemingly, the most important change is that 7 days home quarantine for COVID positive patients has been approved, instead of compulsory centralized quarantine that was mandated preciously.
• Different cities have began to announce this slowly – but now it is official that ALL cities will allow home quarantine.
All relaxations of rules will become effective immediately. Below are the major changes that you should be aware of:
1. Home Quarantine Allowed for Covid Positive Patient
The previous compulsory centralized quarantine for Covid positive patient has been scrapped, and resident who tested positive now can stay home for quarantine, and will be allowed to go out after he/she is recovered and tested negative on day 6 and 7. How this will all be managed is still a question.
2. No Restrictions On Traveling Between Non-high Risk Districts
Non-high risk districts are not allowed to block any individual from entering/leaving the area.
3. Health Code & PCR Test Result Only Needed For Specific Places
Health code and PCR test result will not be needed for most places, except medical facility, nursery, school and other specific places. Watch this space.
As different cities around China are optimizing their COVID-19 control measures to minimize the impact on people’s livelihoods, below we show an overview of announced adjusted measures by region.
– Zhang Wenhong, a prominent epidemiologist, recently announced that China’s new Covid strategy shift from ZERO Covid to preventing the virus to preventing severe cases & deaths.
– In meanwhile, the official narrative is also changing. Guangzhou health authorities said that “Covid-19 is now no more serious than a seasonal cold”.
– Experts are also exploring the necessity of downgrading COVID management. They also called for downgrading the management of the COVID-19 epidemic from Class A to B as conditions are becoming mature.
