The new isolation period will come into effect on July 5.

Requirements that masks be worn at all medical facilities and pharmacies will also be dropped, with masks only mandatory at hospitals with patient wards.

The man has been on a wanted list for allegedly running away while awaiting admission to quarantine.

The loosening of curbs cheered markets even as many experts warned that the measures were incremental and reopening probably remained a long way off.

The new rules were among the 20 measures examined at the first meeting of the new top leadership body of the ruling Communist Party, amid a new push to optimise and improve Covid control policies.

International arrivals are still, however, subject to multiple coronavirus tests and barred from entering bars, restaurants and venues like sports clubs for the first three days.

Currently, China requires travellers to isolate for 10 days on entry into the country, with seven days in a hotel room, followed by three days of home monitoring.

Nationwide, 2,089 new local infections have been reported, the highest since Aug 20.

A champion of Covid-suppression strategy, Australia shifted away from its fortress-style controls and began living with the virus from early this year through a staggered easing of curbs amid higher vaccination rates.

Throughout the pandemic Taiwanese citizens and foreign residents have not been prohibited from leaving and then re-entering, but have had to quarantine at home or in hotels for up to two weeks.

The former British colony had been a global outlier outside mainland China in imposing hotel quarantine for international arrivals, in line with the country's 'dynamic zero' Covid strategy.

All international arrivals will be able to return home or to accommodation of their choice but will have to self monitor for three days after entering the Chinese special administrative hub.