China to end its Covid-19 tracking service, the ‘mobile route map’, on Tuesday, officials say

CNN
—

China will abolish its Covid-19 trace tracking service, the “mobile route map”, on Tuesday, officials said.

“Mobile route map request channels such as text messages, web pages, WeChat extensions, Alipay extensions and the app will be disconnected at the same time,” according to a statement from the Academy of Technology. country’s information and communications.

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, China has used the route map system to track individuals’ 14-day travel history. The system is linked to people’s phone numbers and aims to identify people who have visited cities with any area designated as a “high-risk area” by authorities.

If a person has been to a city with a “high risk zone” in the previous 14 days, the city will be marked with an astrological sign in the system.

This system, coupled with a health QR code that tracks individuals’ health status regarding Covid-19, has determined people’s movements in public spaces across China.

Many Chinese have been criticized on social media for allowing local governments to adopt blanket policies barring entry to those who have visited a city that has a ‘high-risk area’, even if they did not go. to the high risk areas in this city.

The announcement of the end of the system follows China’s unveiling last week of 10 new guidelines that relaxed some Covid-19 restrictions, a sign that the country was moving away from its zero-Covid 19 approach.

The 10-point plan largely removed health code tracking for most public places, canceled mass testing, allowed many positive cases to self-quarantine at home, and imposed limits on the lockdown of areas deemed ” high risk”.

Senior health officials in Beijing said the rule changes were based on scientific evidence, including the spread of the relatively milder Omicron variant, vaccination rate and China’s level of experience in the response. to the virus.

It follows a wave of protests in China in late November and early December calling for an end to lockdowns and zero Covid measures.

Even after much of the world eased pandemic restrictions, China continued to lock down entire cities and send all Covid-19 patients to central quarantine facilities, while preventing others from visiting the areas where positive cases have been detected.

Thousands of people took to the streets during the protests, some expressing broader grievances against censorship and the authoritarian leadership of the ruling Communist Party.