A year after lifting COVID rules, China is turning quarantine centers into apartments

Zone G in a quarantine center turned housing units. The complex is divided into nine zones, named after letters from A to L, a design that was meant to make quarantine management convenient. Inside each window of the building is a 190-square-foot studio, equipped with a bed, a sofa and a bathroom. (Aowen Cao/NPR)

During the global coronavirus pandemic, China built dozens of makeshift hospitals and state quarantine centers, some out of steel container boxes. They became closely associated with the anxiety of mass testing and the fear of sudden lockdowns.

Now, cities are turning the huge centers into affordable housing units for young workers in an attempt to revive the country's economy post-COVID.