An announcement has been made by China to de-activate a phone app that has tracked people’s movements during the pandemic.

At the end of Monday, the national app, which has been operational for three years, will go offline.

It is the latest policy change that signals Beijing is abandoning its controversial zero-Covid strategy, BBC reports.

Because of the local apps still in use in cities across China, the move is highly symbolic but will not have a huge impact on people’s daily lives.

Meanwhile, it has been discovered that many social media users in China have welcomed the app’s retirement.

The state-run Communications Itinerary Card app, which uses phone signals to track whether someone has travelled to an area seen as high-risk, was seen as a central part of China’s zero-Covid policy.

People were required to enter phone numbers in the app in order to produce a green arrow indicating they were able to travel between provinces and enter events.

Now travel between provinces has been eased with the removal of Covid-prevention restrictions, the national app has been deemed to be obsolete by officials.