Coronavirus: China’s pandemic rule changes a nod to science on Omicron and economy, say experts
- Changes based on Omicron’s shorter incubation period seen to promote a more targeted approach to pandemic control
- It is not a shift from zero-Covid, health officials and public health experts caution
Lu Hongzhou, president of the Shenzhen No 3 People’s Hospital, an infectious diseases hospital and designated Covid-19 facility, said the changes were based on the scientific finding that the Omicron variant, the dominant strain in China, was mostly detected two to four days after exposure and could always be detected within seven days.
The new optimised quarantine rules had streamlined pandemic control measures and would help to free up social resources, he said.
“As a border city, Shenzhen faces a lot of pressure to prevent Covid-19 outbreaks. The new guidelines could guide the city’s Covid-19 response in a more precise and targeted manner,” said Lu.
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But while the announcements have raised public hopes of more loosening of curbs, they do not signal a shift from China’s zero-tolerance response, health officials and public health experts cautioned.
Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said the measures represented neither an abandonment of the zero-Covid policy nor heightened risks of outbreaks. They are policy tweaks based on actual needs, he pointed out.
The asterisk mark on the “Big Data Itinerary Card” digital travel pass only showed the mobile phone user had been in a city with coronavirus cases within the previous 14 days. However, it did not necessarily pinpoint the location of those infections, and did not relate to the holder’s actual health status either, Wu noted.
“It had played its role of putting as many people with infection risk as possible on the radar, especially in times when the epidemic situation was severe, but its use was limited,” Wu posted on his personal Weibo account on Thursday. “It can hardly play its role when the risk areas and management are required to be more precise and targeted.”
The abolition of the asterisk would help integrate epidemic control and prevention with economic and social development, and play an active role in promoting people movement, he added.
Wu also called on local governments still imposing blanket quarantine on people with the asterisk sign on their travel pass to stop the practice, because “it is wrong”.
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This comes as China cracks down on local governments imposing excessive control measures, restricting people flow. Several central government agencies have formed a task force to oversee the matter, with the public encouraged to file complaints on the National Health Commission website.
Some local authorities had imposed quarantine on people who had visited cities with Covid-19 outbreaks such as Shanghai, and this should stop immediately, health commission official Cheng Youquan said.