Chinese leaders are considering reopening after nearly three years of tight epidemic prevention restrictions, but progress has been slow and no timetable has been set, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Chinese government has made some progress in easing border controls for arriving passengers. People involved in the discussions said Beijing could further reduce the number of quarantine days for travelers to seven days by early next year. At the moment, those entering the country must be quarantined in hotels for seven days and have a three-day home health check.
Domestically, government officials told retailers to reduce the frequency of nucleic acid tests as soon as possible, partly due to the high cost of mass testing, people familiar with the matter said. The government is planning to reduce the number of screening stations, the sources said.
However, Chinese leaders are struggling to enact a large-scale easing this year and will keep many of the containment measures in place, people familiar with the matter said. New variants of the virus, lack of medical resources and an approaching winter have worried Beijing that a wave of diagnoses, hospitalizations and deaths could erode the legitimacy of Chinese rule.
Chinese health officials have observed death rates and public responses in Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea, which share cultural ties with China, the sources say.
“The reopening in China will be orderly and will be guided gradually according to geographic regions and sectors, unlike what has been seen in Western countries. For example, the government may decide to relax the rules in cities,” said one person involved in the discussions.
One option Beijing is considering is that if the World Health Organization (WHO) adjusts its assessment of the outbreak, the Chinese government could start treating the disease as a “class B” infectious disease, according to people who they are familiar with the matter. Currently, the government has classified COVID-19 as a “class A” infectious disease and has taken stricter public health measures.
However, even if China were to make these adjustments, it could take even longer, perhaps a year, to return to pre-pandemic levels of economic activity, the sources say. The government wants to continue to closely monitor new variants of the virus to ensure the virus does not become more dangerous.
Chinese officials are proceeding cautiously despite the growing impact of the “dynamic zero” policy, which means there is still a long way to go before economic activity approaches pre-pandemic levels, people said. with the timeline extending to close at the end of next year.
