China promises change but sticks to severe ‘zero COVID’ plan

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leaders promised, Thursday, to improve quarantine and other anti-virus policies after public frustration boiled over into protests but said they will stick to a severe “zero COVID” strategy that has confined millions of people to their homes and disrupted the economy.

President Xi Jinping’s government is enforcing some of the world’s most extreme anti-virus restrictions despite rising costs while other countries ease travel and other curbs. The government has given no indication when it might ease controls that have shut down Shanghai and other major cities for weeks at a time to find and isolate every infected person.

The ruling Communist Party’s seven-member Standing Committee said it will “unswervingly adhere” to “zero COVID” but promised to make it less disruptive. It said 20 changes including in quarantine, testing and treatment were approved but gave no details. The party promised to release “stranded people” who have been in quarantine or blocked for weeks from leaving cities where there are cases.

“We will protect people’s lives and health to the greatest extent and minimize the impact of the epidemic on economic and social development,” the party leaders said in a statement.

“Zero COVID” has kept China’s infection rate relatively low but weighs on the economy and has disrupted life by shutting schools, factories and shops or sealing neighborhoods without warning. The closure of Shanghai and other industrial centers, starting in March, sent shockwaves through global trade.