One of the key leaders of China’s corona policy says that China is now entering a new phase. There have been protests in several Chinese cities in recent days against the strict restrictions.
China may be loosening its strict corona line. One of the central leaders of the corona policy says that China is entering a new phase with a “more humane approach”.
Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chunlan’s the comments were reported by the Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
Statement has been interpreted (you move to another service) A concession by China’s leadership after protests against corona restrictions broke out in several cities last weekend.
In its corona policy, China has so far aimed at completely suppressing the disease. Detected infections have led to city lockdowns and residents being quarantined.
Now the authorities let it be understood that there would be a change to the hard corona line. According to Xinhua, Deputy Prime Minister Sun said at a meeting of health authorities on Wednesday that corona testing and quarantine guidelines must be “optimized”.
The omicron transformation of the coronavirus is weakening and vaccine coverage in China is increasing, Sun is said to have stated.
Corona lockdowns have been lifted in several Chinese cities despite the fact that new infections have been detected in the cities. In the southern city of Guangzhou, the closures that had lasted for weeks were partially lifted on Wednesday. This was done even though there was a demonstration in Guangzhou on Tuesday against the corona measures and the number of infections in the city is at a record level.
The authorities of the big city of Chongqing, on the other hand, have announced that the close contacts of the infected will now be allowed to be in home quarantine instead of the quarantine center, if certain conditions are met.
Testing also changing?
The Reuters news agency reported on Thursday that China would also allow home quarantine for some of those with a positive test result. Two sources, whom Reuters describes as familiar with the matter, have told Reuters about the matter.
According to the sources, pregnant women, elderly people and long-term sick people should be in home quarantine.
According to Reuters, close contacts of those infected with the corona virus could also be in home quarantine if the home conditions meet certain requirements.
In addition, the authorities will increase the number of antigen tests known as rapid tests and reduce regular mass testing and PCR tests, the sources say.
Chinese health authorities have not commented on the matter to Reuters.
Sources: Reuters, AFP