Two sources with knowledge of the situation told Reuters that China will let some people who test positive for COVID-19 stay in quarantine at home. This is one of the extra steps that will be announced in the next few days.
China’s quarantine rules would change significantly if infected people had to stay at home. This year, when even one positive case was found, whole communities were locked down, sometimes for weeks. Last month, new and easier quarantine rules meant that only affected buildings had to be locked down.
One of the sources told Reuters on Thursday that not everyone who tests positive will be allowed to quarantine at home. Instead, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with other illnesses will be able to quarantine at home.
Related: According to the regulator, Tesla will recall 435,000 China-made Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.
Sources say that people who are close to the cases will also be able to stay home and stay away from others if their homes meet certain conditions.
Two sources said that the government will also do more antigen tests for the new coronavirus and reduce the number of mass tests and regular nucleic acid tests.
When Reuters sent a fax to the National Health Commission asking for comment, they didn’t answer right away.
Some Chinese cities, like Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Beijing, have seen rare public protests against China’s strict coronavirus rules, which include putting people who test positive for the virus in centrally quarantined facilities for days.
Since President Xi Jinping took office in 2012, this kind of public defiance has never been seen before. Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, who is in charge of China’s efforts to fight COVID, said on Wednesday that testing, treatment, and quarantine policies should be “optimized” even more.
This week, people in charge of health at the national level said that the government would respond to “urgent concerns” from the public and that COVID rules should be applied more flexibly, depending on the conditions in each region.
Related: Zijin, a new lithium company in China, hopes to make a lot of money from the demand for batteries.
In a post on social media on Wednesday, well-known nationalist commentator Hu Xijin said that many people in Beijing who carry the coronavirus but don’t have any symptoms are already staying at home.
