Beijing may introduce new anti-epidemic regulations in the near future

The epidemic in China is still hovering at a high level, but Beijing has begun to loosen its zero-zero anti-epidemic policy that has been held for more than three years under the pressure of popular protests. There are signs that the winds of China's fight against the epidemic are shifting.


Reuters sources said that in the coming days, Chinese authorities will announce more relaxed quarantine rules and reduce the scope of virus testing. A sudden nationwide protest and demonstration campaign against the zero-zero anti-epidemic policy finally pushed the CCP top brass to make important policy adjustments.

Reuters said that the new epidemic prevention measures to be announced will include reducing the scale of group testing and routine nucleic acid testing, allowing people who test positive and close contacts to isolate at home under certain conditions.

This is a huge change from the current regulations. Current rules require that if a single positive case is detected, the entire community is placed in complete lockdown, ranging from days to weeks or even months. This practice has seriously affected people's normal life, restricted economic activities, and greatly reduced the high economic growth that China has maintained in the decades of reform and opening up.

China's National Health Commission reported on Thursday (December 1) that there were 36,061 new confirmed cases nationwide, including 31,911 asymptomatic cases. This is a slight decrease from the more than 40,000 cases seen in previous days.

The National Health Commission announced decisions to ease restrictions in some areas, but it did not mention the widespread popular protests that have taken place in various places recently. Reuters said it was the largest civil disobedience movement to emerge in China in years. From Beijing to Guangzhou, from Xinjiang to Shanghai, people holding candles and white paper to mourn the victims of the fires in Urumqi, Xinjiang, clashed with police who suppressed the protests.

Since Tuesday, at least seven districts in Guangzhou, the hardest-hit city, including Haizhu District, have lifted temporary controls. One of the districts said it would allow commercial facilities such as schools, restaurants and cinemas to reopen.

Chongqing authorities announced on Wednesday that the central urban area would gradually open up and that the screening of close contacts should not be expanded arbitrarily. Eligible close contacts can be quarantined at home.

Beijing authorities announced that from Wednesday, the city's long-term home-based elderly, home office and study personnel, infants and young children and other people without social activities cannot participate in community nucleic acid screening if they do not need to go out.

Chengdu authorities have allowed the opening of bars, KTV, gyms and other types of closed leisure and entertainment venues, but those who enter need to show a 24-hour nucleic acid negative certificate. Residents can freely enter and exit their own communities and courtyards with their health codes.

Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province, announced the lifting of liquidity management, that is, lockdown management, on Foxconn's Zhengzhou factory and other parts of the city. Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province, also announced the orderly restoration of production activities after ten days of nucleic acid screening for all employees.

The People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China that defended the zero-zero policy a few days ago, changed its tune on Thursday and carried an article titled "Lockdown management should be quickly closed and solved." The article emphasizes that the virulence of virus variants is weakened, and the vaccine has a better effect on preventing severe disease.

Of greatest concern was Sun Chunlan, a member of the CCP's Politburo and vice premier in charge of fighting the epidemic, speaking at an expert meeting of the National Health Commission on Wednesday. Sun Chunlan made it clear that the pathogenicity of Omicron virus has been significantly weakened. This can be said to set the tone for changes in China's anti-epidemic policy.

Over the past three years or so, Sun Chunlan has said that "everything should be inspected" and "everything should be collected" everywhere she went, and strictly ordered the local government to take decisive and strict measures to carry out large-scale isolation, transfer, and testing.

Sun Chunlan said, "With the weakening of the pathogenicity of Omicron virus, the popularization of vaccination, and the accumulation of prevention and control experience, China's epidemic prevention and control is facing a new situation and new tasks.”