Nation embraces fresh approach

Modified COVID-19 policies see life returning to pre-pandemic norms

More than 12,500 sightseers swarmed to Juzizhou Island, Hunan province, on a recent weekend: five times the number just a month ago. Rural fairs made a comeback in Gansu province after being canceled for much of the year, providing a boon for farmers shopping for gifts and snacks for the upcoming Spring Festival season. Masked youngsters lined up in Shanghai for blockbuster movies, with no worries over the expiration date of their nucleic acid tests.

In fact, the long-lost hustle and bustle have trickled back to some parts of the country ahead of the celebrations for Chinese New Year.

The past 50 days saw central authorities adjusting the nation's COVID-19 strategies as the Omicron subvariants, which fueled incessant outbreaks nationwide and once resulted in many residential areas being sealed off, have become super contagious, yet far less lethal than their predecessors.

To optimize control measures, health authorities stopped tracing COVID-19 cases and their close contacts, and allowed people to choose if they wished to isolate at home or in government-funded facilities. Testing requirements were cut for everyday scenarios, such as taking the subway, dining at restaurants and traveling out of town. Fitness clubs, karaoke bars and other entertainment venues were allowed to resume business.

However, for Liu Han, a 21-year-old who had not yet been infected with COVID-19, much was still at stake if he fell ill. The senior at Beijing International Studies University had never been closer to realizing his dream of becoming a simultaneous interpreter.

Liu and his teachers believed that he stood a good chance of passing the annual National Graduate Entrance Exam and being admitted to a top university in Beijing to study Chinese-English-Spanish interpretation.

The written part of the exam took place on Dec 25 and 26, and only those who excelled can earn a spot for a second-round test at their dream schools in March or April.

Infected students on campus mostly displayed mild symptoms, such as a high temperature, cough, fatigue and loss of smell and taste, and they were not barred from sitting the exam as an "infected only" classroom was arranged for them.

But still, Liu said he felt that it was imperative to take extra precautions against the virus until after the exam.

He reduced his visits to the campus shower room to once every two days. He fetched his own food from the canteen, and disinfected himself from head to toe after entering the dorm.

"The exam is just a week away, and all I need is to stay fit," he said in the run-up to the big event, adding that being infected just ahead of the crucial exam would be a psychological disaster.