China going easy on Covid? Xi Jinping govt downgrades disease to less strict Category B, to publish data monthly

Beijing: The Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Management said on Tuesday that authorities have decided to publish Covid data once a month after the disease comes under Category B management.

Authorities have downgraded China’s Covid emergency by a level, making restrictions less strict from the current Category A as they say that the disease has become less virulent and will gradually turn into a common respiratory problem.

No mandatory quarantine for international travellers

All international travellers coming to China will no longer be required to quarantine from 8 January as the country has started to reopen its borders and come out of a three-year-long international isolation.

The National Health Commission (NHS) announced that COVID-19 management will be downgraded from Category A to B from next month, in the same category as less-severe diseases, such as Dengue fever.

“According to the national health quarantine law, infectious disease quarantine measures will no longer be taken against inbound travellers and goods,” the National Health Commission (NHC) said.

The move is likely to be greeted with joy by Chinese citizens and diaspora unable to return and see relatives for much of the pandemic.

China changes COVID death definition

The Xi Jinping administration has narrowed down its definition of COVID-related deaths.

The head of infectious diseases at China’s Peking University, Wang Guiqiang said that people with existing medical conditions who are infected by the virus are not being counted under COVID deaths.

On Wednesday, China subtracted one death from its overall death toll, without offering any explanation.

An investigation by The Associated Press showed that officials have been clouding death tallies by applying much narrower and less transparent recording standards.

With inputs from agencies

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