China has announced it will deactivate a phone app that has tracked people’s movements during the pandemic.
The national app, which has been operational for three years, will go offline at the end of Monday.
It is the latest policy change that signals Beijing is abandoning its controversial zero-Covid strategy.
The move is highly symbolic but will not have a huge impact on people’s daily lives because of the local apps still in use in cities across China.
The state-run Communications Itinerary Card app, which uses phone signals to track whether someone has travelled to an area considered to be high-risk, was seen as a central part of China’s zero-Covid policy.
People were required to enter phone numbers in the app in order to produce a green arrow indicating they were able to travel between provinces and enter events.
Now travel between provinces has been eased with the removal of Covid-prevention restrictions, the national app has been deemed to be obsolete by officials.
Many social media users in China have welcomed the app’s retirement.
But it is only one of several tracking apps that have governed everyday life in China, with many people still using scanning systems run by their city or province to access local amenities and public buildings.
China eases some Covid restrictions amid protests
The policy change is symbolic for a nation which is turning away from its controversial zero-Covid strategy following widespread protests in several cities.
Recent unrest was triggered by a fire in a high-rise block in the western Xinjiang region that killed 10 people in November, with long-running restrictions blamed for hampering the rescue effort.
A user holds a mobile phone showing the “Itinerary Card” app which is used to track travel to areas with Covid-19 cases before it will be retired on 13 December
Following policy changes, people with Covid can now isolate at home rather than in state facilities, and there has been a broad relaxation of mass testing.
China is now experiencing a surge in Covid cases, with authorities in Beijing saying more than 22,000 patients had visited hospitals across the city on Sunday – 16 times the number a week earlier.
China reported 8,626 domestic cases on Sunday, but with testing no longer widespread the numbers are believed to be much higher.
Despite its loosening of measures, China is still regarded as having some of the most hard-line Covid restrictions in the world.