China’s Covid outbreak is at its worst in about half a year. Residents of Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, are pictured here lining up for regular virus testing in their community on Nov. 10, 2022.
Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty Images
BEIJING — China reduced the quarantine time for international travelers by two days, state media said Friday.
Instead of making travelers stay at a centralized quarantine facility for seven days upon arrival in the country, the new rules stipulate a five day quarantine, followed by three days of home observation, according to state media.
The new timeframe also applied to close contacts of Covid infections within China, the report said.
In contact tracing, China said it will no longer track people beyond close contacts of Covid infections. Previously, people who were connected to those close contacts might face additional Covid restrictions.
The new measures reduced the number of regional risk designations to two from three — just low and high, the report said.
Overall, the new measures emphasized home quarantine instead of centralized quarantine.
The measures also ended a policy that often resulted in the number of international flights, already operating at reduced levels, getting canceled.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
