China announced on Wednesday that frequent coronavirus tests and health codes would no longer be required for daily life or to travel within the country — a significant relaxation of previously unyielding restrictions.
tests and digital health codes, two pillars of its “zero covid” policy, would no longer be required for daily life or to travel within the country — a significant relaxation of previously unyielding restrictions that were protested in more than a dozen cities across the country in recent weeks.The State Council, China’s cabinet, released a 10-point plan that also said those with less severe infections could quarantine at home rather than in centralized facilities.
That policy has resulted in rising public frustration after the arrival of more transmissible variants led local authorities to impose ever harsher lockdowns. Mounting discontent boiled over late November when restrictions wereprotests that spread across college campuses and into the shopping and business districts of major Chinese cities, people’s calls for an end to the zero covid regime rapidly evolved into broader demands for freedom of speech, human rights, and, in one instance, even for President Xi Jinping to step down.It’s unclear to what extent the protests informed the Chinese government’s updated rules.
Point nine of Wednesday’s plan, however, prohibited the blocking of firefighting passages or building doorways, a possible response to outcry over the deaths of seven adults and three children in the Urumqi blaze. The document also underscored the need to accelerate vaccinations for those over 60 and to improve monitoring of at-risk populations with underlying conditions to ensure access to health care, in a bid to plugVaccines:
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Netflix's 'Wednesday' Slammed After Jenna Ortega Reveals She Shot Dance Scene While Sick with COVID'I felt like I'd been hit by a car and that a little goblin had been let loose in my throat and was scratching the walls of my esophagus,' Ortega recalled of filming the viral scene while sick.
Read more »
Wednesday: Jenna Ortega Choreographed Iconic Dance Scene While She Had COVIDNot only did Jenna Ortega choreograph her popular dance scene in Wednesday, but she also filmed it [...]
Read more »
Jenna Ortega Says She Had COVID While Filming Iconic ‘Wednesday’ Dance SceneThe actress said she shot the scene while awaiting her COVID test results, that subsequently proved to be positive.
Read more »
China's Xi to visit Riyadh as Saudi Arabia seeks to expand international reachChinese President Xi Jinping will visit Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to attend the first China-Arab States Summit and the China-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit.
Read more »
China eases nationwide Covid restrictions after protestsChina loosens nationwide Covid restrictions following protests against the hardline strategy that grew into calls for greater political freedoms
Read more »
China eases COVID quarantine rules in major policy adjustmentChina's national health authority said on Wednesday that asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and people with mild symptoms can quarantine at home, in the strongest sign yet that China is preparing its people to live with the disease.
Read more »