The Beginning of the end for China’s zero COVID

17-12-22

In a 6 December lecture at Qinghua University, Deputy Director of China’s CDC Feng Zijian said that there was no way to continue with a Zero COVID approach. His statement followed 10 days of rapid changes and adjustments to China’s COVID control policies. What exactly is new, how did we get here, and what should we expect from China in the coming months?

Since 2020, China has taken a “Zero COVID” approach to the pandemic, through contact tracing, extensive testing, and strict quarantine requirements. The approach was highly successful in fighting the original strain of COVID-19, allowing Chinese people to live relatively normal lives, and for domestic travel to bounce back just months after Wuhan reopened. However, as the virus mutated to become more infectious, the approach has become less sustainable.

Starting from the summer of 2022, China switched to a “dynamic Zero COVID” policy, intended to be more flexible. While outbound group and package travel remains banned as of early December 2022, and any “non-essential” international travel strongly discouraged, there were adjustments to China’s quarantine-on-arrival and international aviation policies over the summer.