China signals slight Covid policy easing — but don't expect sweeping changes yet
Customers dine in at a McDonald's in Guangzhou on Dec. 1, 2022, a day after the city eased Covid restrictions on restaurant operations. Yin Hon Chow | CNBC BEIJING — A trickle of changes around China's Covid controls in the last 24 hours has raised hopes that broader relaxation is on its way. Local state media reports and anecdotes indicated Thursday that some people who tested positive for Covid-19 in Beijing might now be allowed to quarantine at home instead of being sent to a centralized facility. It was not clear to what extent these changes applied. At a central government level, one notable development is official language downplaying the severity of the Omicron variant. Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said at a meeting Wednesday that China faces a new Covid situation "as the Omicron variant's pathogenic nature weakens, vaccination becomes more common and [there's] an accumulation of experience with Covid prevention and control." That's according to a ...