Wuhan fever clinic sees long queue after rules relaxed

STORY: China on Wednesday (December 7) announced the most sweeping changes to its resolute anti-COVID regime since the pandemic began three years ago, loosening rules that curbed the spread of the virus but sparked protests and hobbled the world's second-largest economy.

In the video, taken in the city of Wuhan, where the virus first emerged, at least dozens can be seen queuing outside a fever clinic as a bystander is overheard exclaiming in Mandarin, "This is what happens when you open up! All of them are here for the fever clinic."

According to Chinese state media, fever clinics were first established nationwide during the SARS epidemic, and serve to separate potentially infectious patients from the non-infectious.

The relaxation of rules, which includes allowing infected people with mild symptoms to quarantine at home and dropping testing for people traveling domestically, is the clearest sign yet Beijing is pivoting away from its zero-COVID policy to let people live with the disease. But health officials are still warning that they will closely watch trends in deaths and adequacy of medical resources in case a return to tougher measures is needed.