Modifications to China's COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment guidelines are aimed at relieving strains on the medical system in the face of the highly contagious Omicron variant, officials and experts said.

The less stringent protocols are a timely upgrade, rather than an abandonment of the country's dynamic zero-COVID policy, which is striving to maintain a balance between COVID-19 control work and not overly disrupting people's normal lives.

The National Health Commission released a pilot edition of the ninth COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment guidelines on March 15.

It stated that people with a mild COVID-19 infection, defined as having a slight fever and fatigue without any signs of pneumonia, will be put in a centralized quarantine facility. "They will be given therapies and monitored during quarantine," the updated guidelines stated. "If their condition worsens, they will be transferred to designated hospitals for further treatment."

"Local authorities have reported that the majority of Omicron patients are asymptomatic or are only showing mild symptoms and that they do not need much treatment," the commission said in a statement explaining the new guidelines.

Zeng Guang, the chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the adjustment is pragmatic and scientific, while also being suitable for regions recently hit hard by COVID-19.

The new protocol will help medical institutions implement triage procedures and ease surging pressure, he said, adding that more fine-tuning of the guidelines is expected.

Zhang Hongtao, a former professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, said in an article published on March 16 that due to the lack of triage treatment policies, public hospitals in Hong Kong have been stretched so thin during the city's fifth COVID-19 wave that a large number of at-risk patients were turned away.

A stratified management system can prevent such a problem, he said, adding that adopting centralized quarantine, rather than at-home quarantine used in some foreign countries, will better prevent the virus's spread.

Two COVID-19 drugs approved recently by the national drug regulator have been recommended for use by the guideline changes. They are Paxlovid, an antiviral pill developed by Pfizer, and a monoclonal antibody developed domestically.

Protocols for people who test positive after rapid antigen tests, which were approved for nationwide use last week, are also laid out in the updated guidelines.

Although China is adjusting its COVID-19 control policies and aligning with some global practices, experts said that the basic principle of stemming local outbreaks as soon as possible remains unchanged.

Wang Guiqiang, head of the infectious disease department at Peking University First Hospital, told Shenzhen Satellite Television that the updated guidelines signal intensified efforts in devising science-based and stratified strategies, rather than giving up the fight against COVID-19.