China has relaxed its rules to allow those with mild symptoms or COVID-19 symptoms to quarantine at their home.
The National Health Commission stated that most cases of COVID are mild and asymptomatic cases with no need for special treatment.
People who had tested positive for the virus in the past had to be isolated in unsanitary and overcrowded field hospitals.
This is the most significant sign that China has prepared its citizens to live with the disease.
The NHC stated that mild cases and those with symptoms can be treated at home and can then be transferred to a hospital for treatment if necessary.
A few positive cases earlier this year led to whole communities being locked down, sometimes for several weeks.
Last month, there were fewer strict rules and only the affected buildings were locked down.
According to the NHC, high-risk areas must be identified by building, unit and floor, and households. They cannot be arbitrarily extended to whole residential communities or entire communities.
The health authority urged local authorities to “resolutely correct simplified, one-size fits all, and adding additional measures” to prevent COVID and to reject “formalism, bureaucracy.”
The announcement stated that schools that have not experienced an outbreak of the disease must resume in-person instruction.
China has been implementing COVID-19 restrictions that are almost as restrictive as the rest of the world for nearly three years under its “zeroCOVID” policy. This allows it to manage the virus like cholera and bubonic plague.
However, officials at the top have admitted that the coronavirus is less likely to cause disease than the seasonal flu. Experts from China have said it isn’t more dangerous than seasonal influenza.
Yesterday, Beijingers were permitted to enter parks and supermarkets without proving a negative COVID-19 test.
A negative COVID test is no longer required to use the subway or get into any of the city’s airports. There was no proposal to change the rules that required passengers to submit negative COVID tests before boarding.
Last month’s violent anti-lockdown protests were the largest show of discontent on the mainland in 2012, since President Xi Jinping assumed power.
Despite the fact that protests were stopped by the police in days, many cities and regions across the country started to ease restrictions in pieces before today’s announcement.