China eases zero-Covid rules with shortened quarantine for visitors

China has eased its strict zero-Covid policy, shortening quarantine for international visitors, lifting flight restrictions and limiting the use of mass testing after infection outbreaks in cities. A 20-point plan published on Friday also calls for an accelerated vaccination programme targeting the elderly and better treatment for those who become infected.

“China has introduced these new measures to make our containment more science based and precise. It does not mean that we have relaxed Covid containment or take a laid-back approach,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.

“After these measures are introduced cross-border travel will facilitate the business community to come to China for investment and operation.”

The changes mean that international travellers arriving in China will have to quarantine in a supervised facility for five days rather than seven, before self-isolating at home or at a hotel for a further three days. A rule that suspended flight routes if a certain number of passengers on board tested positive has been scrapped, and the number of pre-flight PCR tests has been cut from two to one.

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China’s zero-Covid policy has dampened economic activity at a time when growth is stalling and a sharp downturn in the property market has hit consumer confidence. Flight restrictions and long quarantine periods have reduced the number of visitors to the country to a trickle while many expatriates have left since the pandemic began almost three years ago.

Chinese officials stressed on Friday that the new guidelines do not signal an end to the zero-Covid policy but aim to make it more effective in adapting to new variants while limiting the social and economic impact.

“Optimising and adjusting prevention and control measures is not to relax prevention and control, let alone relax ... but to adapt to the new situation of epidemic prevention and control and the new characteristics of Covid-19 mutation,” the State Council’s epidemic prevention and control group said.

A rise in infections in recent weeks has triggered lockdowns and restrictions in cities across China, including the capital Beijing and the manufacturing hub of Guangzhou. Although the new rules mean that close contacts of infected persons no longer face the prospect of quarantine and the number of places deemed high risk will be reduced, China will continue to attempt to stamp out outbreaks and stop the spread of infection.

Some of the measures announced on Friday, however, hint at a path out of zero-Covid in the coming months as the vaccination effort targets booster shots at older people who have been hesitant until now and regulatory approval for new vaccines will be accelerated. The plan anticipates an increase in infections, calling for more hospital beds, including intensive care, to increase treatment resources as well as the stockpiling of medicines for those who become ill with Covid.

Covid has killed fewer than 6,000 people in China, according to official figures, compared to more than a million each in the United States and the European Union.