China set to open borders, drop quarantine mandate amid rising cases
China is set to open up its borders and drop the quarantine mandate, the local media reported, even as the infections continue to surge after the government reversed its policy of ‘Zero COVID' overnight recently following countrywide protests.
Under Chinese laws the local authorities are mandated to impose stringent measures like imposing lockdowns, isolating patients and quarantining the people who stand the risk of getting infected.
Starting from January 8, 2023, China will downgrade management of the disease from Class A to Class B in accordance with the country's law on the prevention and treatment of infectious disease and remove it from quarantinable infectious disease management carried out in accordance with the Frontier Health and Quarantine Law of the People's Republic of China, a statement released by the National Health Commission (NHC), said.
Following the adjustment, China's COVID19 prevention and control efforts will focus on protecting the health and preventing severe cases. Measures will be rolled out to protect the lives and health of the people to the utmost and minimise the pandemic's impact on economic and social development, the NHC statement added.
Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping has directed the health officials in the country to take targeted measures to deal with the new COVID situation that the country faced.
Breaking his silence, the Chinese President demanded more efforts in guiding the public to acquire health knowledge and skills, maintain good personal hygiene, and form a healthy lifestyle to build a defence line against the epidemic for the whole society, the state media reported.
Noting that the country's epidemic response against COVID19 is being implemented in an orderly fashion Premier Li Keqiang called on December 26, 2022, for efforts to further leverage relevant strengths and boost the initiative to carry out science-based epidemic prevention and control on all fronts.
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