BEIJING, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) — The Chinese government on Friday issued a circular on optimizing the COVID-19 response, issuing 20 prevention measures and measures.
The circular highlighted our efforts to put other people and their lives above all else, practice the overall strategy of “prevention of imported cases and domestic outbreaks” and tenaciously follow the overall policy of “zero dynamic COVID”.
Optimizing and adjusting COVID-19 reaction measures does not mean relaxing prevention and confronting the virus, much less lifting COVID-19 restrictions or “standing firm” in the fight against COVID-19, reads the circular issued through the Joint State Council for Prevention and Control Mechanism against COVID-19.
This resolution was taken to adapt to the new scenario of prevention and control of COVID-19 and the new characteristics of virus mutations in order to make the reaction more targeted and scientific, maximize people’s defense and health coverage, and minimize the effect of the epidemic on economic and social development.
The new measures come with cutting off the COVID-19 quarantine era for close contacts and incoming travelers, according to the circular.
Quarantine for equipment will be reduced to five days of quarantine at designated sites plus 3 days of home quarantine, starting with the last seven days of quarantine at designated sites plus 3-day home physical surveillance.
Secondary contacts will no longer be identified, the circular says.
Those who have visited high-risk spaces will be subject to a seven-day home quarantine of seven days of centralized isolation as before.
COVID-19 threat space categories will be adjusted from “high,” “medium,” and “low” to “high” and “low” to minimize quarantine or physical surveillance.
Those who had presented themselves in high-risk positions in closed-loop controlled spaces will go through five days of in-house fitness monitoring, rather than seven days of centralized isolation or seven days of home quarantine.
In infection-free regions, COVID-19 nucleic acid testing deserves to be conducted among others serving in high-risk positions or key equipment in accordance with the ninth edition of China’s COVID-19 protocols, the circular says, adding that the expansion of testing policy is prohibited.
The country also canceled the circuit breaker mechanism for incoming flights, and the requirement for negative COVID-19 tests for incoming travelers will be reduced from twice in 48 hours before boarding to once. Large business travelers and incoming sports teams will be transferred to quarantine-exempt closed-loop control areas.
For incoming travelers, those with cycle cut-off values below 35 on COVID-19 nucleic acid tests will be known as positive cases, according to the document.
The circular called for more efforts to strengthen medical resources and expedite the supply of medicines similar to the COVID-19 remedy.
Vaccination against COVID-19 is carried out in an orderly manner, he said, adding that the policy of booster vaccination be strengthened, especially for the elderly.
According to the document, it also improves the coverage of key establishments and equipment of precedence of the virus.
The precept of early detection, notification, quarantine and remedy should be strictly observed to curb the scale and reduce the reaction time of the epidemic.
The document suggested redoubling efforts to rectify the one-size-fits-all approach and exaggerated policy measures, and strengthening to ensure that other quarantined people have minimal disruptions to their lives.
He pressed the need to optimize COVID-19 prevention and measures on campuses and ensure that applicable measures are fully implemented in businesses and retail parks. He pressed the need to help other stranded people return home in an orderly manner.