Local authorities required to relax inter-provincial quarantine rules

Local authorities are prohibited from imposing additional COVID-19 control measures on inter-provincial quarantine policies as the pandemic wanes in most of the country, the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council underscored at a Sunday press conference.

One-size-fits-all approaches and extra pandemic prevention and control restrictions should be abandoned, Lei Zhenglong, an official with the National Health Commission, told the conference while discussing the "nine prohibitions."

Local governments are prohibited from extending restricted areas from medium or high-risk areas to other areas. They should not:

• mandate people returning from low-risk areas to leave or be quarantined
• prolong quarantine periods in medium, high-risk, locked-down or controlled areas
• quarantine more people in high-risk groups
• extend health monitoring periods for people in high-risk groups

Local medical facilities cannot deny medical care to people with emergencies and severe diseases or those requiring regular treatment.

No extra quarantine measures should be imposed on college students who meet the requirements of returning home.

No extra checkpoints should be set up to restrict travel for those who meet health requirements.

As summer draws near, college students with negative PCR test results within 48 hours after at least seven days of closed-loop management at a university devoid of COVID-19 outbreaks can return to their hometowns with certificates issued by school authorities. These students will not have to be quarantined when arriving at their destinations, Liu Peijun, an official with the Ministry of Education said. Instead, they can undergo a weeklong heath monitoring at home.

Students required to be quarantined under local policies should be exempt from quarantine fees, Liu said.