China’s revised COVID-19 guidelines, which cut a quarantine requirement in half for inbound travelers, also create a standardized policy for mass testing and lockdowns when cases of the disease flare, showing that the country still has a zero-tolerance approach to the virus.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) solidified the position during a trip to Wuhan, where the pathogen first emerged in 2019, saying that China is capable of achieving a “final victory” over the virus.
The “zero COVID-19” policy is the most effective and economic approach for the country, Xi said during the trip on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.
Photo: AP
The first update of the Chinese National Health Commission’s protocol since May last year sparked enthusiasm in financial markets and increased demand for travel by cutting quarantine time in half, with some analysts projecting that it might signal the start of China’s withdrawal from the “zero COVID-19” approach, which has largely cut it off from the rest of the world since 2020.
However, a closer reading of the document shows it is codifying critical COVID-19 policies that have widely varied until now, and lays the groundwork for faster and more extensive deployment of testing and lockdowns.
Even with reducing quarantine times to 10 days from as long as three weeks, China remains one of the most difficult countries to enter.
“They are modest steps that do not materially change China’s overall COVID stance,” S&P Global Ratings Asia Pacific chief economist Louis Kuijs said. “Indeed, as long as dynamic zero remains the overall guiding principle, new outbreaks pose serious risks to the economy.”
The move further consolidates and adjusts China’s “zero COVID-19” strategy given the more infectious nature of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, and explains how local officials are expected to deal with the virus in the future.
“The protocol comprehensively follows the dynamic zero policy,” health commission spokesman Mi Feng (米鋒) told a news briefing on Tuesday. “It’s not loosening control. The goal is to be more scientific and accurate.”
The guidelines detail testing and control measures for different levels of risks that can be implemented across China.
In areas classified as “high-risk,” where the virus has been detected in neighborhoods or workplaces, people are strictly banned from leaving their homes. The level would be downgraded to “middle-risk” after the area has been deemed virus-free for a week and everyone tests negative on the seventh day. Another three days without infections would put the area in the “low-risk” category.
For large cities, including provincial capitals and places with more than 10 million residents, mass testing should be conducted every day in virus-hit areas, stopping only when no community cases are found for three days in a row. Residents should undergo another round of tests three days later, ending only if there are still no new infections.
If the virus has spread across districts, provincial level health authorities would make the call on whether citywide testing is needed.
The standardized rules are also aimed at preventing local authorities from intensifying curbs on their own, a common phenomenon as municipal Chinese Communist Party officials fear angering Beijing by failing to execute “zero COVID-19” policies.
The rules were almost immediately put to the test, as the detection of 15 cases in central Anhui Province yesterday led to the lockdown of one county with 760,000 people.
Shanghai and Beijing, which battled outbreaks throughout the spring, reported no new local infections for Monday, a milestone that was seized upon as showing that Beijing’s strategy can be successful.
On Tuesday, the financial hub again reported no cases, while the capital reported one new case.
BUYING TIME: Russia is estimated to have suffered over 100,000 casualties in its push to capture the strategically insignificant town, giving Ukraine time to ready its troops Whether Bakhmut has fallen or not, Moscow is being pulled deeper into an ever more costly fight for the frontline city as Kyiv readies a major offensive, experts said. Russia’s claim to have conquered the destroyed city, which Ukraine rejected on Sunday, does not mean significant new terrain from which to launch attacks nor harden defenses. However, Moscow has made the eastern city’s capture a key aim and has fought the war’s longest battle, as well as one of its deadliest, to try to win what it would like to bill as a significant success. US President Joe Biden, speaking from the G7
DEEPFAKE: Using AI to change their face and voice, a fraudster convinced a businessman that they were his friend and needed 4.3 million yuan for a public tender A scammer in China used artificial intelligence (AI) to pose as a businessman’s trusted friend and convince him to hand over millions of yuan, authorities have said. The victim, surnamed Guo, received a video call last month from a person who looked and sounded like a close friend. However, the caller was actually a con artist “using smart AI technology to change their face” and voice, said an article published on Monday by a media portal associated with the government in Fuzhou City. The scammer was “masquerading as [Guo’s] good friend and perpetrating fraud,” the article said. Guo was persuaded to transfer 4.3
A Malaysian comedian better known for mocking attempts by Western chefs at Asian cooking has had his Chinese social media account suspended after making jokes about China. Nigel Ng (黃瑾瑜), who uses the name Uncle Roger, is the latest comedian to feel the consequences of jokes that could be perceived as reflecting negatively on China under increasingly intense censorship and rising nationalism. Last week, a Chinese comedian came under police investigation for a joke about stray dogs. Ng on Thursday posted a video clip from an upcoming comedy special in which he pokes fun at Chinese surveillance and Beijing’s claims of sovereignty over
TIME TO TALK: Among China’s grievances were economic and trade issues related to Taiwan, but both countries emphasized the need to maintain communication US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (戴琪) on Friday raised complaints about China’s state-led economic policies during a meeting with Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao (王文濤), who objected to US tariffs and trade policies, as well as issues related to Taiwan, their offices said. However, statements from the US Trade Representative’s (USTR) office and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce emphasized the need for Washington and Beijing to maintain communication on trade. “Ambassador Tai highlighted the need to address the critical imbalances caused by China’s state-led, non-market approach to the economy and trade policy,” the USTR said in a statement released after the