(Bloomberg) -- China reduced the amount of time people entering the country must spend in quarantine, a significant calibration of the Covid Zero policy that has upended the world’s second-largest economy and left it increasingly isolated.
Travelers into China will be required to spend five days in a hotel or government quarantine facility, followed by three days confined to home, according to a National Health Commission statement Friday. The current rules require 10 days quarantine in total, with a week in a hotel then three days at home.
A system that penalizes airlines for bringing virus cases into the country will also be scrapped, the statement said, potentially aiding international transport links.
In a move to minimize the number of people thrown into mandatory quarantine when contact-tracing, close contacts of close contacts will no longer be identified, said the statement.
Bloomberg News reported in October and November that officials were discussing these changes.
China’s Tolerance for Xi’s Unyielding Covid Fight Is Cracking
The shift comes as China’s top leadership issued instructions for a more targeted, decisive approach to Covid, raising hopes that the country will back away from its punishing approach that’s exacted a growing social and economic toll.
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