China Covid: Beijing eases some curbs despite rising cases

China has somewhat relaxed some of its restrictions even though the number of COVID cases is at its highest point in months.

For close interactions, the seven-day state-mandated quarantine period will be shortened to five days in a facility and three days at home.

Because officials will stop monitoring secondary interactions, many people won’t need to be quarantined.

There has been a slight easing of tension in the weeks after Xi Jinping was elected to an extraordinary third term as party chief.

Mr. Xi had his first meeting with his newly elected standing committee on Thursday.

The “zero-COVID” policy of the 1.4 billion-person country of China has avoided deaths, but it has also had a significant negative impact on the economy and the lives of ordinary people.

Lockdowns and travel restrictions are becoming less popular with the public.

The abundance of stories of suffering and desperation on social media has also led to countless public outbreaks of wrath.

According to China’s National Health Commission (NHC), the changes weren’t made to ease prevention and control efforts or to open up the country, but rather as a response to a changing COVID environment.

The NHC also said that it would develop a plan to hasten vaccines.

The alterations were made public on Friday, even though the country is battling the deadliest COVID outbreak in months.

The populations of Beijing, Guangzhou, and Zhengzhou are currently at record levels.

On Thursday, China recorded more than 10,500 new cases of COVID, the largest daily total since April, when Shanghai was shut down to address a wave there.

However, the majority of the restrictions are still in effect despite minor adjustments. Even as the rest of the world has advanced, Mr. Xi has insisted on maintaining a strict zero-COVID policy that involves lockdowns.

This implies that residents have experienced unexpected limits on their freedom of movement and disruptions to their work and school schedules in several places.

Lockdowns in Zhengzhou, another COVID centre at the time, forced several residents of a sizable Foxconn-owned factory to leave the neighbourhood on foot to avoid the restrictions.