China's National Health Commission (NHC) announced on late Monday night that the management of COVID-19 will be downgraded from Class A to Class B from January 8. This means there will be no more quarantine for people entering the country, and there will be no sealed control of COVID-19 cases and designation of high-risk areas.
The country will also gradually resume entry and exit of passenger transport through water and land ports as well as outbound tourism in an orderly manner in light of the international pandemic situation and support capacity of all sectors. International passengers coming into the country should also take nucleic acid tests 48 hours before departure.
In addition, China will continue to monitor the spread of COVID-19 and keep track of COVID-19 development abroad, including changes in the virus's transmissibility, virulence and ability to escape the immune system. Appropriate measures will also be imposed to curb gathering activities and people's mobility so that the peak number won't overwhelm the medical system, said the NHC.
COVID-19's name was also changed along with the measures. It was named as novel coronavirus pneumonia at the beginning of the epidemic mainly because most patients manifested pneumonia symptoms. With the Omicron variant becoming the dominant strain, the pathogenicity has decreased and only a few cases showed symptoms of pneumonia, the NHC explained on Monday. It is more in line with the current disease characteristics to change the name to "novel coronavirus infection" instead of "novel coronavirus pneumonia," according to the NHC.
The decision was made after China's COVID-19 control entered a new stage as the virulence of the virus weakened, and the majority of the population has been inoculated with COVID-19 vaccines, according to a handout published by NHC, saying that China has met the right conditions for downgrading the management of COVID-19.
COVID-19 was classified as a Class B infectious disease － a class that also includes HIV, viral hepatitis and H7N9 bird flu － on January 20, 2020, one a day after China identified its ability to spread between humans. However, the announcement noted that it should be managed like a category A disease, putting it on a par with bubonic plague and cholera.
