<p class="content-excerpt">People with non-severe Covid cases can isolate at home instead of centralized government facilities</p> <div class="components"> <p>China announced Wednesday a nationwide loosening of Covid restrictions following protests against the hardline strategy that grew into calls for greater political freedoms.</p> <p>Anger over China's zero-Covid policy – which involved mass lockdowns, constant testing and quarantines even for people who are not infected – stoked unrest not seen since the 1989&nbsp;<a class="link" title="https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/asia-pacific/1669526975-protests-in-shanghai-over-china-s-zero-covid-policy" href="https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/asia-pacific/1669526975-protests-in-shanghai-over-china-s-zero-covid-policy" _mce_href="https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/asia-pacific/1669526975-protests-in-shanghai-over-china-s-zero-covid-policy">pro-democracy protests</a>. Under the new guidelines announced by the National Health Commission, the frequency and scope of PCR testing – long a tedious mainstay of life in zero-Covid China -&nbsp;<a class="link" title="https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/coronavirus/1669967812-china-further-relaxes-covid-rules-after-protests" href="https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/coronavirus/1669967812-china-further-relaxes-covid-rules-after-protests" _mce_href="https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/coronavirus/1669967812-china-further-relaxes-covid-rules-after-protests">will be reduced</a>.</p> <div class="taboola-wrapper"> <div class=" trc_related_container trc_spotlight_widget trc_elastic trc_elastic_ab_mid-article-thumbnails_abp-mode "></div> </div> <p>Lockdowns will also be scaled down and people with non-severe Covid cases can isolate at home instead of centralized government facilities. And people will no longer be required to show a green health code on their phone to enter public buildings and spaces, except for “nursing homes, medical institutions, kindergartens, middle and high schools."</p> </div>