New approach to COVID in China
China’s approach to covid – which has emphasized widespread testing and quarantining positive cases in specialized facilities – is expected to shift from ‘passive detection’ to ‘active prevention’, with home recovery for mild cases.
Gu said the infectious disease arm of the Chinese Medicines Association of China, which she heads, had reached a consensus to change how they describe the virus.
Among the announced measures are the end of systematic and large-scale PCR tests, the possibility of self-isolation at home for less severe cases of covid and a more limited use of confinements.
Nor will a negative test from the last 24 hours be required to travel between provinces, but it will be required to enter restaurants and cafes.
It has also changed the speech of the authorities, who emphasize the less harmful nature of the omicron variant. And the expression “zero covid” is gradually disappearing from his vocabulary.
But changing habits takes time.
Although the number of people in PCR testing centers scattered across Beijing decreased on Thursday, there were still residents queuing for about 10 minutes on average.
“I came to get tested because someone in my office tested positive. I hope I haven’t caught covid,” Chen Min, 28, told AFP.
With information from AFP and Reuters
