China abandons Covid-zero following violent protests

Covid-positive Chinese residents will no longer be required to enter state-mandated quarantine, and compulsory testing will be abandoned in most settings.

Picture: Getty Images.

Covid-positive Chinese residents will no longer be required to enter state-mandated quarantine, and compulsory testing will be abandoned in most settings.

China will lift its severe coronavirus prevention measures and abandon its goal of Covid-zero, following a series of rare, violent protests which have erupted amongst the frustrated population. 

Covid-19 tests and health-code checks will no longer be mandatory in many settings, and those with only mild symptoms will be permitted to isolate at home instead of going into state-enforced quarantine. 

Testing will still be required at nurseries, aged care facilities and schools. Lockdowns can no longer last for more than five days, unless additional cases are detected in the locked down area.

Picture: Getty Images.

Health officials have also lifted the cap on purchasing of over-the-counter cold medications, designed to stop people from treating Covid at home. Authorities have urged residents not to rush out to buy medicines, following stark fear of the virus instilled by three years of the state warning of its severity.

“We urge (you) not to blindly stock up, please buy rationally,” director of the medical emergence department of the national health commission Guo Yanhong said on Wednesday.

The health commission also urged local authorities to “resolutely rectify simplified, one-size-fits-all, and adding extra measures” for Covid prevention and to reject and overcome “formalism and bureaucracy”.

Read more: Young Chinese nationals lead anti-communist protests

Protests broke out across the country last month, with angry crowds chanting "down with the Communist Party" and "Xi Jinping, step down" in attempts to help ease the draconian Covid restrictions. A BBC journalist was arrested, beaten and kicked by Chinese police amidst the violence.

The Qatar FIFA World Cup is also thought to have sparked protests, with many online internet-users venting after seeing videos of fans from around the globe gathered without masks and without daily testing rituals.

Maskless fans at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Picture: Getty Images.

The anti-government protests on a scale not seen since 1989’s Tiananmen massacre were centred on cities Xi’an, Nanjing, and Shanghai, three of China’s most politically influential cities, and surged into Beijing. Most of the protesters were young urban residents, although some older citizens joined them.

Changes to the quarantine protocols reflect adjustments in prevention and control measures according to the characteristics of virus mutations, the authorities said.

Officials have also softened their tone on the health risks of the virus, bringing China closer in line with the restrictions of other countries.