BEIJING - China's newly revised Covid-19 guidelines that cut quarantine in half for inbound travellers also laid out detailed instructions for mass testing and lockdowns when cases flare, creating a standardised approach that shows the country is still committed to its zero-tolerance approach to the virus.
The first update of the National Health Commission's protocol since May 2021 sparked enthusiasm in the financial markets and increased demand for travel, with some analysts projecting it may signal the start of China's withdrawal from the Covid Zero approach that largely cut it off from the rest of the world since 2020. A closer reading of the document shows it is codifying critical Covid-19 policies that have widely varied until now.
In areas classified as 'high-risk,' where Covid-19 has been detected in neighbourhoods or workplaces, people are strictly banned from leaving their homes. Residents should undergo another round of tests three days later, ending only if there are still no new infections. If the the virus has spread across districts, provincial level health authorities will make the call on whether citywide testing is needed.
The standardised rules are also aimed at preventing local authorities from intensifying curbs on their own, a common phenomenon as municipal Communist Party officials fear angering Beijing by failing to execute Covid Zero policies.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
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