China to cease criminal charges for breaching COVID-19 response measures

Beijing [China], January 7 (ANI): China has said it will no longer impose criminal charges on those violating Covid-19 "prevention and control measures or provisions on frontier health and quarantine" starting January 8, the Chinese state media reported citing circular released by authorities on Saturday.

"Relevant cases in the process of handling should be handled in a timely and prompt manner in accordance with provisions of the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure Law," the document read, according to Xinhua news agency.

The circular adds that suspects and defendants in custody for such violations should be released in accordance with the laws, and properties involved in the cases that are sealed up, seized, or frozen should be freed.

On January 8, China will downgrade its management of COVID-19 from Class A to Class B, and remove COVID-19 from its list of quarantinable infectious diseases, according to Xinhua.

This comes as a major outbreak has ripped through China's urban centers in the wake of an abrupt relaxation of disease control last month, CNN reported. The World Health Organization (WHO) officials have become increasingly vocal in their calls for reliable information.

The UN health agency has even accused China of "under-representing" the severity of its Covid outbreak and criticized its "narrow" definition of what constitutes a Covid death.

WHO executive director for health emergencies Mike Ryan said the numbers released by China "under-represent the true impact of the disease" in terms of hospital and ICU admissions, as well as deaths, CNN reported.

Mike acknowledged that many countries have seen lags in reporting hospital data, but pointed to China's "narrow" definition of a Covid death as part of the issue.

Dismissing the criticism, the Chinese Foreign Ministry this week said that the country has always shared epidemic information "in a timely, open and transparent manner" and insisted its Covid situation was "under control." (ANI)