China took another step away from its stringent Covid-19 controls
stringent Covid-19 controls
Wednesday, easing quarantine and testing requirements and curtailing the power of local officials to shut down entire city blocks and raise barriers to domestic travel. The announcement from the State Council adds further evidence of a faster-than-expected pivot by Beijing away from controls that have grown increasingly unpopular and costly—and which failed to prevent the country’s worst and most widespread Covid outbreak in November. The policy shift followsagainst the pandemic rules that were the biggest that China had seen in decades.
The wide-ranging easing measures will allow Covid patients with mild or no symptoms to isolate at home instead of being shipped off to government quarantine facilities. Most requirements for virus testing and scanning health QR codes when entering premises will be scrapped. Domestic travelers will no longer need to present a negative virus test or have their health codes checked when arriving in another province. The new rules also bar officials from arbitrarily locking down neighborhoods and from shutting businesses and restricting the ability of residents to go about their daily lives.
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