China's COVID-19 prevention and control work is facing a new situation and new tasks, with the weakening pathogenicity of Omicron, increasing uptake of vaccinations and growing disease response experiences, Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan said recently.
To speed up an orderly return to normal lives and production, some regions hit by the virus have begun fine-tuning their measures, such as lifting temporary control orders, waiving regular testing requirements for certain groups and allowing close contacts of confirmed patients to self-isolate at home.By Monday, the mainland had fully vaccinated just over 90 percent of its population, according to the National Health Commission.The public's health awareness and knowledge have also improved significantly, Sun said during another symposium on Thursday with grassroots disease control workers. The city government clarified that the scope of close contacts should not be arbitrarily expanded, and "space-time companions" — a term describing people whose movement likely overlapped with confirmed patients — should not be recklessly identified as close contacts.
