China’s top health officials said a sweeping overhaul to its Covid Zero playbook was a refinement of rules and not a relaxation of controls, dismissing interpretations that the changes were a step toward living with the virus.
The new measures were made after assessing figures to ensure virus-spreading risks can be controlled, says a health official.China’s top health officials said a sweeping overhaul to its Covid Zero playbook was a refinement of rules and not a relaxation of controls, dismissing interpretations that the changes were a step towards living with the virus.
Still, they did not rule out a further easing of the rules. When asked about shuttering centralised quarantine camps, Wang Liping, a researcher at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said China’s Covid-19 playbook would continue to be guided by science. Later, Lei reiterated that the government would “keep advancing in small steps”.
China’s large population and other factors mean it can’t “lie flat” like other nations, the officials said. There is still a “significant gap” between the medical resources China has and those in developed countries, Lei said, adding that the country has fewer than four intensive care beds for every 100,000 people.
China reported that new local cases rose to 11,323 for Friday, after daily infections climbed above 10,000 for the first time since April on the previous day. Much of the surge came from the southern metropolis Guangzhou, where new cases jumped to 3,180 from 2,583 on Thursday. Chongqing in southwestern China reported 1,240 new infections, up from 782.
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