SHUT DOWN

China COVID Tracking App Deactivated as Virus Spreads ‘Rapidly’

The country’s “mobile itinerary card” will be canned on Tuesday.

China is set to scrap its COVID tracking app even as health officials warn that the virus is now “spreading rapidly” in the country. Authorities on Monday announced that the “mobile itinerary card”—which used cellphone data to monitor travel history in order to identify people who had been to “high risk” areas—is set to be deactivated on Tuesday. It’s the latest measure in Beijing’s “zero-COVID” pandemic management policy to be dropped after weeks of anti-lockdown protests around China. Despite loosening restrictions, highly transmissible Omicron variants are “spreading rapidly” across the country, COVID expert Zhong Nanshan said over the weekend in an interview published by state media. “No matter how strong the prevention and control is, it will be difficult to completely cut off the transmission chain,” Zhong added.