Instead of requiring travelers to stay in a central quarantine facility for seven days upon arrival in the country, the new rules set a five-day quarantine, according to state media. This is followed by three days of follow-up at home, unchanged from the previous protocol. The new timeline also applies to close contacts of Covid infections within China, the report said. In contact tracing, China said it will no longer trace people beyond close contacts of Covid infections. Previously, people linked to these close contacts may face additional Covid restrictions. The new measures reduced the number of regional risk ratings to two from three — just low and high, the report said. Overall, the new measures emphasized home quarantine instead of central quarantine. The measures ended a policy that often resulted in the cancellation of international flights, which were already running at reduced levels. The measures required creating a bubble for businessmen or sports teams entering China. People entering the bubble from China must be vaccinated and may need to be quarantined once the outbreak is over, the report said. Shortly after the announcement, the Hang Seng index soared to 7%, building on an earlier rally following US data that showed relief from a recent rise in inflation. Travel-related stocks rose, with China Eastern Airlines up 6 percent and Cathay Pacific gaining nearly 3 percent in the afternoon session. Casino operators MGM China, Wynn Macau and Sands China all saw shares gain around 8%. China has stuck to its strict zero-Covid policy, while the rest of the world has shifted to a “living with Covid” approach. Beijing’s emphasis on what it calls “potential zero Covid” has been implemented with considerable variation at the local level, causing great uncertainty and slowing travel. The number of Covid cases nationwide has risen in recent days to the highest level in about half a year. — CNBC’s Jihye Lee contributed to this report.
