China revises COVID guidelines for entertainment venues

People wearing protective masks cross a street, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Shanghai, China, November 15, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song

BEIJING — China made a further incremental relaxation of rules to combat the spread of COVID-19 on Friday, removing limits on number of people allowed at theaters and events such as concerts and music festivals in low-risk areas without outbreaks.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the revised guidelines to travel agencies, entertainment, and performance venues. A government statement said local administrators should improve the accuracy of their prevention and control measures and should not shut down entertainment venues down at will.

The specific measures are mostly in line with China’s latest easing of COVID rules, but could be a bright spot for entertainment and tourism firms that have been hammered by a near three-year strict zero-COVID policy.

Places such as KTVs, internet cafes, and offline board game venues are allowed to operate under normalized COVID prevention rules in low risk regions, which means as long as they apply certain COVID prevention rules, they can open their business as usual, according to the government.

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