(Yicai Global) July 22 -- Concerns for the privacy of residents who have been infected with Covid-19 likely prompted authorities in the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Chengdu to shorten the time it takes for test results to disappear from health records.

The results of polymerase chain reaction tests, better known as PCR tests, are now viewable for just 14 days on Suishenban and Tianfutong, the local government all-in-one apps that also provide Covid-related health services in Shanghai and Chengdu.

Yicai Global learned earlier this month that some employers in logistics and housekeeping services along with supermarkets and shopping malls were refusing to take on staff who had had Covid-19. Since then, the Shanghai government has made clear a number of times that employers must not discriminate against staff or jobseekers who have had the illness.

According to a resolution the Standing Committee of Shanghai Municipal People's Congress passed yesterday, employers must not terminate labor contracts or refuse to recruit a job candidate because they have had an infectious disease.

“The Standing Committee’s resolution and the adjustment on the Covid-19 test history are connected,” Zheng Lei, a professor of public policy at Fudan University, told Yicai Global.

“The resolution was made from the perspective of law, which is not enough alone, so it must be accompanied by practical regulations because without that, employers could still ask job hunters for their Covid-19 test histories,” he said.

“Two weeks is reasonable,” Zheng said, though it was “shorter than the one month I had expected.” A longer period could have hindered the chances of jobseekers who have recovered from Covid, while a shorter period could have caused risks, he added.

Covid-19 patients must have their health monitored for seven days at home after being discharged form hospital, and can then resume normal life, according to the ninth edition of China’s diagnosis and treatment protocol issued earlier this year.

Editor: Futura Costaglione