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Everything changed overnight: China’s relaxing of its zero-COVID policy
It is plausible that the whirlwind turn of COVID-19 policy in China must have been a result of some extreme imperatives.
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A COVID-19 patient is moved on a wheelchair at Tianjin First Center Hospital in Tianjin, China, on Dec. 28, 2022. Cities across China have struggled with surging infections, a resulting shortage of pharmaceuticals and overflowing hospital wards and crematoriums after Beijing suddenly dismantled its zero-COVID lockdown and testing regime. (AFP/Noel Celis)
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or nearly three years, China had practiced a zero-COVID policy that was a lot more draconian than the policies in most countries in the world. However, the Chinese authorities began to change this policy in November.
The most dramatic change came on Dec. 7, when the government issued new policy guidelines that constituted a total overhaul of its zero-COVID strategy. The new 10-point guidelines allowed patients with mild symptoms or none at all to stay at home instead of being transported to government-designated quarantine facilities. Except for hospitals, nursing homes and schools, no swab test results or health codes were required for entering public places or traveling across regions in China.
On Dec. 26, the National Health Commission further decided to end the quarantine requirement for inbound travelers from Jan. 8, 2023, and to treat COVID-19 as a category B infectious disease.
Many observers were surprised and even shocked by these sudden changes as Beijing had staunchly insisted on its zero-COVID policy for a long time. Such a swift policy reversal was also unusual given the well-established gradualist approach that had been evident in the Chinese government’s style of policymaking in the past decades of reforms.
In these contexts, it is plausible to believe that the whirlwind turn of COVID-19 policy in China must have been a result of some extreme imperatives.
Before China issued the above new guidelines, many countries had relaxed their pandemic restrictions, but China still insisted on carrying out very stringent COVID-19 measures such as locking down entire cities or high-risk communities where even small numbers of cases were found.
Strict border controls helped prevent imported cases but also impeded the regular flow of people and goods between China and the outside world. Millions of Chinese people had to take swab tests every day or once every few days. They were required to present negative test results on their smartphone health code application before they could engage in all sorts of outdoor activities.
