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China to reopen borders, drop Covid quarantine from January 8
- Local authorities will be stripped of the power to shut down entire communities from early next month
- The decision is the last step in the country’s pivot to living with the virus
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China will reopen borders and abandon quarantine after it downgrades its treatment of Covid-19 on January 8.
The decision is the country’s last step in shedding three years of zero-Covid and pivoting to living with the virus.
Covid-19 has been managed as a top category A infectious disease since 2020, putting it on par with bubonic plague and cholera. When the declaration was made to do so, authorities said it would be administered according to the Frontier Health and Quarantine Law.
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Under Chinese laws, authorities must impose the toughest restrictions such as quarantine and isolation of the infected and their close contacts, and citywide lockdowns to contain those diseases.
At the border, the infected must be isolated and those who might be infected quarantined, depending on the incubation period.
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But three sources from provincial health authorities and hospitals in Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangsu said they were notified by the National Health Commission on Sunday, asking them to prepare for the downgrade to category B management from January 8.
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