China abandons ‘zero-Covid’ and stops forcing people into quarantine camps
7 December 2022, 07:59
China has announced a series of measures rolling back its toughest anti-Covid-19 restrictions after people were locked into their homes and buildings being sealed under lockdown measures.
Lockdowns in the country are now being limited to individual apartment floors and buildings, rather than entire districts and neighbourhoods.
People who test positive for the virus will be able to isolate at home rather than in overcrowded and unsanitary field hospitals, and schools where there have been no outbreaks must return to in-class teaching.
The announcement follows widespread protests in several cities over the strict "zero-Covid" policy.
The hated policy has been blamed for upending ordinary life, travel and employment while dealing a harsh blow to the national economy.
China has sought to maintain the hard-line policy while keeping the world's second-largest economy humming.
The country is now trying to “live with the virus” like the rest of the world.
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The policies that have been scrapped include:
- Forcing people into quarantine camps
- Making people isolate in state-run facilitates
- Showing proof of tests to enter most venues
The most hated of the measures was forcing people with covid and their close contacts into quarantine camps. It was deeply unpopular as it ripped families apart.
Viral footage emerged from inside China showing guards dragging people out of their homes, and clashes in the streets with officials.
New measures to deal with Covid include:
- Lockdowns being limited to certain buildings, individual units and floors
- Bringing high risk areas out of lockdown after five days if no new cases are found
- Keeping schools open if there is no wider outbreak
The new measures include a strict ban on blocking fire exits. The rule change comes after ten people died in a fire in flats in Urumqi, China during strict lockdown measures in the city.
People died after a blaze raged for three hours after it broke out on the 15th floor of an apartment building. Residents said people were only being allowed to leave the building for short times each day and there are accusations the residents had been unable to leave.
After the restrictions were lifted social media was filled with people expressing joy and relief at the news.
"Finally! I will no longer worry about getting infected or being taken away as a close contact," one person wrote on Chinese social media.
Another said: "Can anyone explain to me what's happening? Why is the change all of a sudden and so major?"
Health experts are now urgently calling for the vaccination of China’s elderly population to be sped up.
