Beijing subway no longer requires COVID-19 negative results taken within 48 hours starting December 5, 2022. /CFP
China on Wednesday announced 10 measures to further optimize its prevention and control of COVID-19, part of its effort to balance epidemic control with economic and social development.
The country will no longer require negative PCR testing results and health codes, except for special places (nursing and welfare homes, medical and childcare institutions, and primary and secondary schools), China's National Health Commission (NHC) said in a notice.
Key agencies, large enterprises, and some specific places can determine the prevention and control measures by themselves, the NHC said.
The 10 measures also cover optimizations in quarantine, people's access to medicine and vaccination.
Before the notice, localities of tier-1 cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen – and some large cities had eased their PCR requirements to some public places, acquiring mixed reactions.
Mixed reactions
The 10 measures came after 20 measures announced a month ago aimed at refining the COVID-19 response.
The number of flights has rebounded significantly in China, with domestic passenger flights rising from the lowest level of 2,592 to more than 3,000 on December 2, rising to 3,906 on December 6, and is expected to exceed 4,000 on the 7th, according to variflight.com.
For brick-and-mortar store owners, the policy optimization on COVID-19 control is encouraging.
Dropping sales and fixed income including personnel wages and rents have weighed on restaurant revenue during this wave of COVID-19, Li Chen, operation manager of the Beijing-based chain restaurant Amazing Thai, told CGTN.
Li welcomed the changes, saying "we believe the market vitality will eventually recover to the level three years ago (before the epidemic)."
The optimized measures have drawn mixed reactions. Some residents are concerned about the virus, rushing to pharmacies, and buying out medicines relieving COVID-19 symptoms, local media reported. Medical experts have sent relieving signals calling for rational preparation of medicines instead of stockpiling.
Despite this round of major optimization of controls, most people continue to fear contracting COVID-19, which has resulted in a limited recovery in mobility and business activity, Lu Ting, chief China economist at Nomura, said in a note.
Since the easing of lockdowns, metro passenger trips in Guangzhou have recovered to 47 percent of their level before the latest lockdown, while their pace of recovery has been much slower at only 26 percent and 6 percent in Chongqing and Beijing, respectively, he said.
Starting Tuesday, Beijing restaurants have successively resumed dine-in services. To get his restaurants ready, Li said the management has done positive psychological counseling for employees to alleviate their fear of the virus and made scientific response plans for emergencies.
Li expected diners would take a while to go back to restaurants "as everyone is experiencing universal immunization; it would affect both businesses and consumers at this stage." Consumers have become more rational about consumption, there might not be "revenge spending" very soon, he added.
Protect vulnerable groups
Speaking at a meeting with top public health and medical experts in Beijing last week, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said facing a new situation and new tasks in COVID-19 prevention and control work, China will "take small steps" to further upgrade its virus control policy and "keep moving".
Experts said the sub-variants of Omicron currently circulating in China cause less severe illnesses, but its strong transmissibility still threatens those above the age of 65 and with underlying health conditions.
A public service advertisement on vaccination against COVID-19 for elderly people is seen at a bus stop in Beijing, China, September 9, 2022. /CFP
"Why 'small steps'? Because we want to provide adequate protection for vulnerable groups," Zhang Wenhong, head of the infectious disease department at Shanghai Huashan Hospital Affiliated with Fudan University, recently said at an academic conference.
The key to overcoming the epidemic is to protect the vulnerable population and establish an immunity barrier through vaccination, he added.
The NHC on Wednesday stressed ramping up COVID-19 vaccinations among the elderly, especially those aged between 60 to 79. It also allowed COVID-19 cases with no or mild symptoms to quarantine at home, canceling compulsory centralized quarantine in hotels or mobile cabin hospitals.
Wang Guiqiang, director of the infectious disease department of No. 1 Hospital attached to Peking University, advised implementing risk-stratified treatment for patients.
Ordinary patients can be monitored and treated at home, leaving limited medical resources for high-risk groups with severe illness, he told CMG on Tuesday.
Read more: How to do a COVID-19 self-test
Encourage markets
With the gradual optimization of the COVID-19 control policy, China's economy will enter a state of endogenous recovery next year, TMT Post reported citing Economist Zhang Aoping.
The endogenous recovery is expected to be achieved by expanding domestic demand, given shrinking global demand caused by high-flying inflation and interest rate hikes in many major economies, he said.
Based on the optimized COVID-19 control measures and the continued loosening of monetary policies, China's economic growth is capable to reach 5 percent next year, Zhang forecasted.
The Political Bureau of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China emphasized coordinating epidemic control with economic and social development and optimizing COVID-19 prevention and control measures, according to the annual central economic work conference on Tuesday.
UBS said in a note that a likely increase in COVID-19 cases may affect business activities this winter, expecting that China's economy will rebound in the second quarter of next year.