East China's Zhejiang province launched new regulations in light of COVID-19 during the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday on Jan 21, with management of rural areas being a strong focus.

People traveling from areas designated medium to high-risk for COVID-19, as well as medium-risk areas that have been locked down, will be required to undergo a 14-day centralized or self-quarantine, and will be required to take nucleic acid tests on the first and 14th days after their arrival. Those who continue testing negative throughout the 14 days will undergo seven days of daily health monitoring, after which they must be tested again, according to the "14+7" health management measures targeted at the group.

For those from medium-risk regions with sporadic COVID-19 cases, Zhejiang will implement a "7+7" management system, meaning people will be asked to stay at home for seven days after a negative test result and monitor their health conditions every day for another seven days if the nucleic acid test again comes up negative when their home-based quarantine ends.

Health authorities in Zhejiang have also said that people from outside the province intending to travel home to rural areas must provide negative novel coronavirus test results taken within seven days of their trip and present green health codes. This rule also applies to people involved in the cold-chain food industry, employees at ports with direct contact with imports, workers at quarantine sites, and people working in the transportation sector.

Those who fail to submit the necessary information will be immediately guided to designated service stations for nucleic acid testing.

If the result is negative, they will be asked to undergo a 14-day daily health monitoring period and take another two tests on the seventh and 14th days after arriving.

The management rules for rural travelers will go into effect on Jan 28 and remain in place throughout the Spring Festival travel rush until March 8.