Beijing resident Kelly Zhuang was left fuming on Tuesday when — after nearly a week with COVID-19 — her health code turned red just as she got a negative RAT result.
A red health code on your COVID-19 app in China means you have to isolate at home, regardless of your RAT results.
Beijing has begun to ease COVID-19 restrictions nationwide following recent protests across the country.
However, people's happiness at the rules finally relaxing has been mixed with frustration and some apprehension about what it could mean for the country's elderly.
"I had called [the authorities] to report my case five days before but no-one responded," Ms Zhuang said.
"My code turned red only when I recovered.
"Mass testing has stopped but they haven't said what they are going to do with the health codes."
'It's just so chaotic right now'
Ms Zhuang is not the only person who has been left confused.
On Chinese social media Weibo, the hashtag #Whatifyoutestpositive has been read millions of times this week, with many people posting to ask about what to do when testing positive.
Ms Zhuang has diabetes and wanted to see a doctor so she could get prescription sugarless cough medicine.
"I didn't know whether I was allowed to leave home to see doctors or not," she said.
"They have provided just so little guidance for us about what to do."
Ms Zhuang said at least six people in her workplace had recently tested positive in mixed-sample PCR tests, in which multiple people are tested in a batch and all receive the same result.
However, they had trouble finding somewhere to get an accurate test to confirm which in the group actually had COVID-19.
"It's just so chaotic right now," she said.
"There are more and more people testing positive around me in the mixed-sample test.
"I do want to move on [from zero-COVID], but I also feel worried and want to know how to respond when [I] test positive."
Nationwide relaxation of rules
On Wednesday of this week, China announced its most-sweeping changes to its resolute anti-COVID regime since the pandemic began.
Just two weeks ago, one person testing positive in Beijing would have meant everyone living nearby having to immediately quarantine at home.
And, in some parts of China, anyone who tested positive was confined, along with their close contacts, in centralised quarantine facilities.
The relaxation of rules includes allowing infected people with mild symptoms to quarantine at home and dropping testing for people travelling domestically.
China's authorities have dropped the need for people to show negative COVID-19 tests to enter supermarkets and offices.
Cities are now required to just close off apartments and affected floors, rather than entire city blocks.
Dire predictions
Health experts have predicted some dire outcomes should China's restrictions be lifted too quickly and without more people being vaccinated.
Zhuo Jiatong — who is chief physician at the Centre for Disease Control in Guangxi province — predicted more than 2 million deaths, with over 233 million people infected, if COVID-19 restrictions dropped in a similar way as Hong Kong did last year.
In May, a peer-reviewed paper published in Nature Medicine by researchers from China's Fudan University and the Indiana University of the United States, estimated that more than 1.5 million deaths related to COVID 19 would occur if China dropped its zero-COVID restrictions without raising vaccination rates and introducing more treatment facilities.
Jin Dong-Yan — a virologist from Hong Kong University — said the numbers were a useful reference but did not think they would come to pass.
"So far, [worldwide] there are few models predicting the COVID-19 virus accurately," Professor Jin said.
He said his primary concern was people's access to mRNA vaccines.
"[Those] mRNA vaccines should be approved sooner to save more people," he said.
"China and Russia are the only two countries in the world who haven't approved mRNA vaccines."
Liu Chaojie — who leads the China Health Program at La Trobe University — agreed the models likely overestimated the number of potential deaths, but was concerned about the low vaccination rate among senior groups.
He said most models used in Australia also overestimated the number of infections.
"After the outbreaks, we saw the numbers were lower than predicted peaks," he said.
Professor Liu said that, while there was still uncertainty about how far China was relaxing restrictions, the country had not yet suddenly opened up completely.
If China eased restrictions step-by-step, he said, it would reduce the pressure on its medical system.
Cases reportedly declining
So far, despite the relaxation of restrictions, the number of COVID-19 cases being reported by China's health authorities has gone down.
In its most recent data, the National Health Commission reported 21,439 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, compared to 25,321 new cases a day earlier and 36,061 recorded on December 1.
However, Ms Zhuang said, she no longer believed the numbers were accurate and took no reassurance from the reduction.
She said she was stocking up on expensive COVID-19 medicine in preparation for a worst-case scenario.
The medicines she bought deal with severe COVID-19 symptoms but are not easily accessible in Chinese pharmacies.
"Many of my friends also bought them to get prepared for the elderly at home," she said.
'They need to get concrete plans out fast'
Professor Liu said an overall plan for moving away from China's COVID-zero policy was needed to protect China's vulnerable groups.
"I don't know what's going to happen [in China] next week or in the following month," he said.
"They [Chinese government] need to get concrete plans out fast.
"What China needs now is a roadmap. [With a roadmap], people will see clearly zero-COVID is impossible and a rising number of infections is inevitable.
"They will gradually take the situation more easily with a clear plan [of what's next].
"When people know what to do, they feel much better protected. If not, there are going to be complications.
"Not just the public need [a roadmap], the medical staff and hospital also need to get better prepared as well."
Only about two-thirds of people over the age of 80 in China have been vaccinated for COVID-19 and only about 40 per cent have had a booster.
Professor Liu said that the reasons behind the senior group's low vaccination rate was complicated, and was one of the biggest headaches for China at the moment.
"Chinese don't have a culture of vaccinating adults, like getting the flu shots every year … there is also less trust in hospitals and medical institutions in China among patients," he said.
"Vulnerable groups need to be aware that it's the time for them to get themselves protected."
Ms Zhuang lives in a shared apartment with her elderly father, who has not had a booster shot yet.
"As someone with chronic disease, I feel it's critical for the government to call on the old people and patients with chronic disease to get vaccinated," she said.
"My father is reluctant to get a third shot. I'm still trying to convince him to do that now.
"They are hesitant, as they got the idea somewhere from social media that there are lingering side effects from vaccination."
Medical experts say vaccines are the most-effective way to protect against serious disease and death.
Ms Zhuang says that the Chinese government needs to work harder to promote vaccination using social media.
She felt that COVID-19 vaccines have been demonised for a long time in China.
"Now it has taken such a sharp turn," she said.
"[The elderly] just don't listen to us."
ABC/wires
