China eases Covid-19 rules, maintains propaganda onslaught

China has eased some Covid-19 rules while maintaining its tired and transparent propaganda stance, just as case numbers rise to their highest levels for months.

Quarantine for so-called “close” contacts will be cut from seven days in a state facility to five days locked up and three days locked down at home. According to the BBC, secondary contacts will no longer be recorded.

Fresh from his expected electoral victory, President Xi Jinping held his first Covid meeting with his new standing committee on Thursday as China recorded over 10,500 new coronavirus cases – the highest daily total since April when Shanghai was forced into lockdown.

On Friday, as the changes were announced, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Zhengzhou detailed record numbers of new infections.

The zero-Covid policy has been harsh on both the economy and ordinary people’s lives. Public fatigue over lockdowns and other restrictions is obvious all over the country. Stories of misery and hopelessness circulate on social media, igniting eruptions of public anger.

Beijing, of course, is incapable of appearing to back away from its current strategy, but new measures are described as “adapting” to the situation rather than “relaxing” the policy. Propaganda experts at China’s National Health Commission prepared statements that the changes did not amount to “relaxing prevention and control” but instead showed China’s impressive ability to adapt to a fast-changing situation.

For Chinese people, it doesn’t matter if the government wants to save face, as long as the changes are real. Three years into the crisis, any steps towards re-opening are steps are very welcome.

Ending punishments for airlines carrying infected passengers will mean more flights, more seats, cheaper inbound tickets, and an end to abrupt cancellations.

The reduction of seven days in hotel quarantine plus three days at home to “five+three” is small, but the expectation is that the trend could continue.

It is hard to explain to people in other countries just how fed up locals have become. They were living through this crisis months before the rest of the world and while other countries have moved on, China is frozen in 2020 practices, introduced with political rather than epidemiological bases.

Even as China eases COVID rules, most restrictions will remain in place. Xi isn’t abandoning what he considers to be extremely useful lockdowns, even if the rest of the world has moved on.