China’s National Health Authority announced on Wednesday that those who are sick with Covid but have no symptoms, as well as those with mild symptoms, can be quarantined at home, in the most important signal that Beijing is preparing its population to the idea of ​​coexistence with the coronavirus, Reuters reports.

Most cases of infection with the coronavirus are asymptomatic or mild and do not require special treatment, according to the message of the National Health Service.

“Asymptomatic persons and persons with mild cases may be isolated at home while we strengthen monitoring of their health status, and may be transferred to designated hospitals for timely treatment if their condition worsens,” the NHC said.

For nearly three years, China has managed COVID-19 as a disease as dangerous as bubonic plague and cholera, but since last week, senior officials have acknowledged that the virus has little ability to cause serious illness, and some Chinese experts have suggested it is no more deadly. than seasonal flu.

The change in quarantine protocols reflects the adjustment of prevention and control measures based on the mutational characteristics of the virus, the NHC said.

Home isolation for infected people is a significant change in sanitary rules.

The difference compared to the measures used in the past is very big. At the beginning of the year, entire communities were quarantined, sometimes for weeks, after even one positive case was detected.

In addition to announcing the relaxation of quarantine rules, an official representative of the national health authority said at a press conference that China’s COVID-19 vaccines are very safe and the benefits far outweigh the risks.