To the Covid-19 Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism (Leading Group and Headquarters) of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the administration of the central government, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and all members units of the State Council's Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism for Covid-19:
Since the emergence of Covid-19, our country has—under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core—insisted on the supremacy of protecting the people and their lives; adhered to defending against imported cases from overseas and preventing new waves of domestic cases; stuck to the Zero Covid policy, optimized prevention and control measures according to the time and situation; actively responded to the impact caused by multiple waves of Covid on a global scale; protected the safety and health of the people to the greatest possible extent; and achieved significant positive results coordinating epidemic prevention and control with economic and social development. On November 10, the CPC Central Politburo Standing Committee convened a meeting to listen to reports on ongoing Covid-19 prevention and control work, and—based on investigations done on these reports—has deployed 20 new measures to further optimize prevention and control work. To implement the spirit of this CPC Central Politburo Standing Committee meeting and do an excellent job in the implementation of optimized and adjusted epidemic prevention and control measures, the relevant matters are notified as below:
I. Improve Political Standing and do a Scientifically and Precise Job at the Work of Epidemic Prevention and Control
As of right now, new Covid-19 variants are continuing to appear, the worldwide situation is still classed as a pandemic, and China is regularly experiencing new domestic outbreaks. China has a huge population and a correspondingly huge population of vulnerable individuals; due to unbalanced regional development, the total quantity of medical resources is insufficient, and some regions still see large outbreaks. Affected by virus variation and winter and spring climatic factors, the scope and scale of outbreaks may continue to expand. As a result, the ongoing prevention and control situation is severe and complicated, the strategic focus must be maintained, and a precise and scientific job must be done at epidemic prevention and control. In order to adapt to the rapid spread of the virus, to quickly and competently make resolute and decisive measures, and to contain the outbreak as soon as possible, we must concentrate our efforts on critical areas. All localities and departments must resolutely unify both their ideology and actions with that of the decisions and deployment made by the CPC Central Committee; must completely, accurately, and comprehensively implement the CPC Central Committee's conclusions and arrangements; unswervingly insist on the supremacy of protecting the people and their lives; staunchly implement the general strategy of "defending against imported cases from overseas and preventing new waves of domestic cases”; stick with the overall “Zero Covid” guidelines; and—per the requirements that the epidemic must be prevented, that the economy must be stabilized, and that development must be safe—efficiently coordinate epidemic prevention and control with economic and social development. To further improve political standing, to fully understand that optimization and adjustment of prevention and control measures are not about relaxing prevention and control, nor about "giving up in the face of a hopeless situation," but is—instead—about adapting to new situations in epidemic prevention and control and the new characteristics of new Covid-19 variants, we must adhere to established prevention and control strategies and guidelines, must further improve the precise and scientific nature of prevention and control measures, must protect the safety and health of the people to the greatest possible extent, must minimize the impact of the epidemic on economic and social development, and must use practical actions to implement the spirit of the CPC 20th National Congress.
II. Implement the CPC Central Committee’s Deployments and Actively and Prudently Optimize and Adjust Prevention and Control Measures
As part of the CPC Central Committee's 20 measures for further optimizing prevention and control work, necessary arrangements have been made and clear requirements put forward, with all localities across the country and all government departments required to effect all these optimization measures.
(1) Close Contacts are to have the previous management measures of "7-Days Centralized Quarantine + 3-Days Home Health Monitoring" adjusted to "5-Days Centralized Quarantine + 3-Days Home Quarantine" and will be strictly forbidden from leaving their homes during the home quarantine period. They will have PCR testing on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th days of centralized quarantine, followed by PCR testing on the 1st and 3rd days of home quarantine.
(2) Close Contacts must be rapidly and accurately tracked but Secondary Contactswill no longer be sought out.
(3) At-risk individuals in high-risk areas are to have the previous management measures of "7-Days Centralized Quarantine" adjusted to “7-Days Home Quarantine" and will be strictly forbidden from leaving their homes during the home quarantine period. They will have PCR testing on the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th days of home quarantine.
(4) The previously existing "low," "medium," and "high" risk area categories are to be replaced with "high" and "low," and the number of control personnel are to be reduced. In principle, areas such as an infected person’s residence, workplace, frequented activity areas, and which have a high risk of disease transmission are to be designated as high-risk areas with areas delineated on the basis of office blocks and residential buildings. The definition of "high-risk area" may not be expanded upon willy-nilly and other areas in the county (city, district, flag) where the high-risk area is located are to remain designated as "low-risk areas." When any high-risk area has gone five consecutive days without new infection, it shall be upgraded to a low-risk area. All high-risk areas that meet the necessary conditions for opening up must be opened up according to schedule.
(5) Management personnel who have completed high-risk closed-loop operations are to have the previous management measures of “7-Days Centralized or Home Quarantine” reduced to “5-Days Home Health Monitoring”; and, during their management period, will undergo PCR testing on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th days, will avoid going out unless necessary, and—if they must go out—will refrain from visiting crowded public venues or taking public transportation.
(6) In places that are not currently experiencing outbreaks, PCR testing for staff in risky positions and key groups of individuals shall be carried out in strict accordance with the scope determined by the Ninth Edition of the Covid-19 Epidemic Prevention and Control Guidelines and the scope of persons to be tested shall not be expanded. In general, unless the source of infection and/or transmission chain is unclear and community transmission has been going on for a long time, mass PCR sampling and testing shall not be done according to administrative regions. Specific implementation measures to standardize nucleic acid testing are to be formulated, the relevant requirements are to be reaffirmed and refined, and unscientific practices such as two or even three PCR tests per day are to be rectified.
(7) Cancel the circuit breaker mechanism for inbound flights and adjust the pre-flight requirement of two negative PCR tests within the 48 hours before boarding to one negative PCR test within the 48 hours before boarding.
8) Important business personnel and sports groups who receive "point-to-point" transfer to an isolation-free closed-loop management area (i.e., a "closed-loop bubble") may—so long as they do not leave the “bubble”—carry out all necessary activities including business, training, and competitions during their management period. All Chinese personnel who enter the management area must have updated Covid-19 boosters beforehand and must—upon completing their work—take appropriate isolation management or health monitoring measures according to the level of risk.
(9) Clarify that the judgment standard for persons coming in from overseas as being positive for Covid-19 is nucleic acid detection Ct value <35, that persons whose nucleic acid detection Ct values are between 35 and 40 (as this generally indicates a past infection) may undergo risk assessment for release from centralized quarantine, that these persons will move to home quarantine with “two in three” testing, during which time they will—via red code—be strictly forbidden from leaving their homes.
(10) People coming in from overseas are to have the previous "7-Days Centralized Quarantine + 3-Days Home Health Monitoring" adjusted to "5-Days Centralized Quarantine + 3-Days Home Quarantine" and, via a red code, will be strictly forbidden from leaving their homes during the home quarantine period. After people coming in from overseas have completed their first point of entry quarantine, their destinations may not repeatedly force them to undergo additional quarantine. They will have PCR testing on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th days of centralized quarantine, followed by PCR testing on the 1st and 3rd days of home quarantine.
(11) Strengthen the construction of medical resources. Formulate triaged diagnosis and treatment plans, admission standards for patients with different clinical severities of infection, treatment plans for outbreaks in various medical institutions, and treatment plans for infection of medical staff; and do a good job at the training of medical staff. Increase treatment resources, and prepare additional inpatient and critical care beds.
(12) Promote vaccination in an orderly manner. Formulate a plan to accelerate the promotion of vaccination, accelerate the increase in booster coverage, and—in particular—focus on improving the coverage rate for the elderly. Accelerate the development of broad-spectrum protection monovalent or multivalent vaccines, and—per laws and regulations—promote their rapid approval.
(13) Increase the reserve of available supplies of medicines helpful in treating Covid-19. With a particular focus on the treatment needs of severe high-risk cases and the elderly, increase supplies to meet patients' medication needs. Pay attention to the unique advantages of traditional herbal medications and do an excellent job at ensuring a reserve of effective herbal prescriptions. Improve the stockpile of emergency medicines and medical equipment.
(14) Strengthen the protection of crucial institutions and key groups of people. Formulate health and safety plans and determine the backgrounds of the elderly, pregnant women, hemodialysis patients, and patients with underlying medical conditions and comorbidities. Optimize the management of places where vulnerable groups are concentrated (such as nursing homes, psychiatric hospitals, and orphanages).
(15) Implement the "Four Early” requirements to reduce the size of outbreaks and the amount of time required to handle them. All localities should further improve their epidemic-related multi-channel monitoring, early warning systems, and multi-point trigger mechanisms; should carry out "testing on arrival" for persons traveling between provinces; should find and report on infected persons in a timely manner; should—from the very beginning—do a good job at adjusting travel restrictions and personnel management; should strictly implement early detection, early reporting, early isolation, and early treatment; should avoid the expansion of battle lines and time; and should avoid ideas such as "wait and see" or "doing our own thing."
(16) Increase the rectification of "one size fits all" methodologies and overlapping restrictions. In fulfilling their territorial responsibilities, local party committees and governments must strictly implement national unified prevention and control policy; they are strictly forbidden to engage in overlapping restrictions, to arbitrarily close schools and cancel classes, to stop work and production, to block traffic without approval, to arbitrarily adopt "silent" management measures, to arbitrarily set-up blockages and control points, to go long periods without releasing restrictions, and to randomly close clinics and hospitals; must increase notification and public exposure; and—if their misbehavior leads to serious consequences—will be strictly held accountable per all relevant laws and regulations. For the rectification at all levels of overlapping restrictions, give full play to the role of official work squads, do a good and efficient job in the collection and transfer of reports, and—in a timely manner—supervise local rectification and reform. Departments, including the National Health Commission, Centers for Disease Control, Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Transport, have strengthened their supervision and guidance of the work system and—as a deterrent—increased exposure and reporting of typical misbehaviors.
(17) Strengthen the service guarantee for people under quarantine, isolation, or static management. All localities should set up special work squads responsible for guaranteeing daily necessities; should—in a timely manner—formulate and improve plans for the market supply of daily necessities, for distribution within closed communities, and regional joint guarantees; and should do a good job in the warehousing of essential commodities required for people's daily lives. Comprehensively survey the basic information of communities’ resident population, master the situation of key groups of individuals (such as senior citizens living on their own, poor and underprivileged children, pregnant women, and patients with underlying diseases and comorbidities), and establish a list of key groups of individuals and their likely needs during an outbreak. Optimize distribution within closed areas, clarify the responsibilities of various work groups for supplying daily necessities, delineate fixed receiving points within communities, and open up a "last meter" delivery service. Guide the community to establish direct hotlines with medical institutions and pharmacies; ensure that residential neighborhoods have reserved vehicles allocated; do a good job in connecting services; strictly implement the responsibility system for initial diagnosis and the emergency and critical care system; strictly repudiate any excuses for refusing medical treatment; and guarantee the needs of residents for medical treatment and medication. Ensure that people under quarantine or isolation receive appropriate psychological counseling, increase the care and assistance towards groups suffering particular kinds of hardship (such as the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled), and resolve the people’s practical difficulties.
(18) Optimize on-campus epidemic prevention and control measures. Improve coordination mechanisms between schools and localities; via joint prevention and control methods strengthen the campus epidemic emergency response guarantee; give priority to on-campus transfer and isolation, PCR testing, contact tracing, environmental disinfection, and guarantee of daily necessities; improve schools’ emergency response capacity; and support schools in the rapid handling of outbreaks. In all localities, schools must strictly implement the country's and education departments' prevention and control measures; must resolutely implement the requirements of scientific and precise prevention and control; and may not add additional restrictions or codes. The Ministry of Education, along with provincial and prefecture-level education departments, have taken the lead in setting up special work squads to investigate outstanding problems (such as the random closure and control of campuses, excessive closure and control time, long periods without in-person teaching, an inability to provide students with daily necessities, and inconsistent management and control requirements for teachers, students, employees, and family members) and urge their rectification; and will rectify both insufficient prevention and control measures and excessive epidemic prevention measures. Education departments at all levels are to set up complaint platforms, and hotlines for the timely acceptance of complaints, their transfer, and response; are to establish a mechanism of "immediately acting upon complaints as soon as they are received”; are to improve problems’ rapid response and resolution feedback mechanisms; are to promptly promote and solve the problems of teachers and students.
(19) Implement prevention and control measures for enterprises and industrial parks. All local joint prevention and control mechanisms should set up special squads to determine (inclusive of private enterprises) the number of enterprises and industrial parks in their jurisdiction and should formulate "one enterprise, one policy" and "one park, one policy" epidemic prevention and control plans. Enterprises and industrial parks are to be primarily responsible for epidemic prevention and control in their purview, and a complete responsibility system for epidemic prevention and control (from enterprises and park management to workshop teams and front-line workers) is to be established with the whole-link and whole-process epidemic prevention, and control ledger refined. Personnel returning to work from risk areas are to be strictly checked and can resume work after confirming their health. With regards to personnel in key positions or who are responsible for key processes, they are to have their livelihood guaranteed, epidemic prevention and job rotation preparation strengthened; management methods of third-party outsourced personnel are to be improved upon; and the flow of staff between worksite and society is to be strictly controlled. In the event of an outbreak, to ensure smooth logistics, key enterprises related to the overall industrial chain or to people's livelihood may not be arbitrarily required to suspend production, and a "whitelist" system is to be implemented.
20) Stranded personnel are to be relieved in an orderly, triaged manner. Whenever an outbreak occurs, risk areas should be accurately delineated as soon as possible, and any staff from other locales which are not in the high-risk zone may—after assessing their personal risk factors—be allowed to leave; so long as they take precautions on their return journeys, they may not be forced to stay. Whereas a large number of people are stranded at any one time, special relief plans are to be formulated with origin and destination locations strengthening information communication and cooperation and—on the premise of effectively preventing the spillover of cases—making steady arrangements with relevant organizations (such as transportation, civil aviation, and national railways) actively providing transportation capacity guarantees. Destination locations should enhance their awareness of the overall situation, shall not refuse to accept the return of stranded persons, and shall implement prevention and control measures for returning personnel as required. Even when done in order to avoid the spillover of cases, overlapping restrictions or codes continue to be forbidden.
III. Strengthen risk prevention, and implement all sorts of measures to deal with hidden dangers
In order to do a good job in the orderly work connection in the implementation of optimized and adjusted measures, all localities and departments should adhere to bottom-line thinking, highlight problem orientation, grasp key points, take precautions against related risks, and ensure that the risk of outbreaks is generally controllable.
(1) Regarding management and control personnel. All localities must strictly manage the centralized quarantine facilities and avoid cross-contamination at isolation facilities. Those persons who meet the conditions for home quarantine are to strictly implement the relevant requirements during their quarantine period, and—if they are found to be positive for Covid-19—transmission risk research and management is to be carried out with tracking and management of relevant risk personnel done to prevent the spillover of cases. Those persons who do not meet the conditions for home quarantine are still subject to centralized quarantine. In order to avoid infection during work, it is necessary to strengthen the closed-loop management and personal protection of employees in high-risk positions. Staff in high-risk positions are to be guided towards strictly implementing relevant requirements during their home health monitoring period, and—if they are found to be positive for Covid-19—transmission risk research and management are to be carried out with tracking and management of relevant risk personnel done to prevent the spillover of cases.
(2) Delineation of risk areas. Whenever any locality anywhere in the country has an outbreak of the epidemic, that locality’s high-risk areas should be delineated and announced to the public in a timely manner. In general, risk areas are to be delineated on the basis of office blocks and residential buildings; however, when the transmission chain is unclear, or community transmission has been going on for a long time, the scope of high-risk areas can be appropriately expanded.
(3) Adjustment of measures to prevent the import of cases from overseas. All localities should do a good job reserving centralized quarantine facilities, standardizing centralized quarantine points, and strictly implementing the management thereof. The standardized management of persons coming in from overseas during their home quarantine period must be strengthened. Strictly enforce the requirements of closed-loop management, personal protection, nucleic acid testing, and other requirements for domestic, foreign, and Chinese personnel in isolation-free closed-loop management areas ("closed-loop bubbles") to strictly prevent "popping the bubble." Any persons coming in from overseas who have nucleic acid detection Ct values of 35-40 will be further screened and shall have another PCR test taken after 24 hours; if their nucleic acid detection Ct value is <35, they shall immediately be transferred to a designated hospital or field hospital for isolation and treatment; if the nucleic acid detection Ct value is ≥35, this generally indicates a previous infection, and they shall be subject to home quarantine with “two in three” testing, and—via red code—prevented from leaving their homes.
IV. Strengthen the organizational guarantee of optimization and adjustment work
The implementation of optimized and adjusted prevention and control measures requires a focus on policy interpretation, training guidance and responsibility implementation, the building of a consensus by the whole of society, the avoidance and elimination of misinterpreted measures to optimize adjustments, the strengthening of leadership and responsibility, and the resolute defense of the bottom line of preventing large-scale outbreaks.
(1) Strengthen publicity and guidance and policy interpretation. Strengthen the interpretation of optimization and adjustment policies; stress the need to continue to adhere to China’s general policies and strategies on epidemic prevention and control strategy; guide the whole of society towards fully understanding and upholding the supremacy of protecting the people and their lives; adhere to defending against imported cases from overseas and preventing new waves of domestic cases; adhere to the importance of Zero Covid; fully understand that further optimization of prevention and control measures is to make prevention and control more scientific and precise; and refrain from letting people incorrectly think that this means relaxing epidemic prevention and control, or even "giving up in the face of a hopeless situation." Guide people towards an objective understanding that the optimization and adjustment of China's prevention and control policies and measures are based on the characteristics of new variants, which is both scientific and necessary; strive for the understanding and support of the general public and grassroots front-line workers; and strengthen society-wide efforts to contain the epidemic. Strengthen the monitoring of public opinion, and respond to public concerns in a timely manner.
(2) Strengthen work guidance and training at all levels. The competent departments of various industries must take responsibility for strengthening the guidance on optimization and adjustment of policies, improving supporting policies, and supervising the implementation of various measures. All localities must accurately grasp the essence of the policy, must proceed with full-on deployment, must refine specific job requirements, must carry out in-depth training for prevention and control personnel at all levels, and—via the organization of training—promote the improvement of the functional ability and level of local party committees and governments at all levels, joint prevention and control mechanisms at all levels, and front line grassroots prevention and control workers.
(3) Require the strengthening of organizational leadership. Local party committees and governments at all levels must be responsible for defending their area and fulfilling their responsibilities; the primarily responsible comrades must personally grasp their work, clarify the division of duties, and—in combination with the actual situation—carefully organize and implement strengthened policy training, coordination of forces and material support that effectively and orderly promotes the optimization and adjustment of prevention and control measures, and implements all tasks without compromise or excuse. It is necessary to fully understand the complexity, arduousness, and repetition of the fight against the epidemic; to strengthen responsibility; to hone fighting skills; to delve deep into the grassroots and go deep into the front line; to pay close attention to the various tasks of epidemic prevention and control; to make every effort to ensure the people's production and living services, to effectively meet the people's basic living needs during an outbreak; to guarantee basic services (such as medical treatment); to strive to maintain normal production and living order; to do a good job at ideological guidance and psychological counseling; and to resolutely win the brutal battle of normalized epidemic prevention and control. Adhere to bottom-line thinking, orient towards problem-solving, oppose irresponsible attitudes, refrain from both inadequate and excessive implementation of measures, oppose and overcome formalism and bureaucracy, resolutely correct practices such as simplification, "one size fits all" and overlapping restrictions, firmly take in hand the measures for optimization and adjustment, efficiently coordinate epidemic prevention and control with economic and social development, and use practical actions to demonstrate the good results of studying and implementing the spirit of the CPC 20th National Congress.
State Council Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism for the Response to Covid-19
(Seal of the National Health Commission)
Friday, November 11, 2022
Source: National Health Commission
