China has announced that its quarantine requirement for travelers arriving in the country will end on January 8.
The measure is the latest in a series of restrictions that will be lifted when the Asian country abandon your zero covid policy.
China is seeing an explosion of covid infections and healthcare workers are struggling to cope.
The country’s President Xi Jinping urged officials to do “everything possible” to save lives, during his first remarks on the changes.
State media quoted him as saying the country is facing new situations that require a more targeted response.
China has stopped publishing covid stats, but it is believed that thousands of people may die every day.
Since March 2020, all passengers arriving in China have to undergo a mandatory centralized quarantine.
But the duration has been progressively reduced, from the original three weeks to just five days today.
new rules
According to the new rules, the covid-19 will be degraded from a class A infectious disease to class B, which means that the quarantine will no longer apply.
China’s sea change in how it handles the pandemic has left Xi in an awkward position, analysts say.
He has been the promoter of the zero covid policy, accused of excessively limiting people’s lives and hurting the economy.
But when he abandons her, he has to deal with it the huge wave of infections and hospitalizationsespecially among the elderly.
Public anger over the president’s handling of the pandemic is one of the areas where the president is most vulnerable.