China will remove quarantine requirements for inbound travelers from January 8th. This is as the country dismantles the remnants of a zero-Covid regime that has shut it down from the rest of the world for almost three years.
The National Health Commission on Monday unveiled the move as part of a wider announcement that downgraded the country’s Covid-19 management and decisively abandoned many other precautionary measures.
The NHC said more than 90% of Omicron variant cases are “mild or asymptomatic”. This is part of a shift in tone as the coronavirus rages across a country where until recently he had infected only a fraction of a population of 1.4 billion.
The government also lifted the requirement to isolate positive cases in centralized facilities this month, but it is now battling a severe winter epidemic as estimated cases surge to hundreds of millions and health services are under pressure. .
Models estimate the virus could lead to nearly 1 million deaths, but China’s public data no longer reflects the situation on the ground, and other zero Covid rules such as mass testing are all but over. did.
On Sunday, the day before it lifted quarantine requirements for inbound travelers, the NHC announced it would not release daily case numbers, handing them over to the China Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC on Tuesday said it would only release Covid data monthly under the downgraded classification.
Chinese stocks led the rally across Asia-Pacific, with the CSI 300 of stocks listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen up 1.15% and the Shanghai Composite Index up 1%. Hong Kong exchange closed.
A snapshot of an interactive graphic is shown. This may be due to being offline or having JavaScript disabled in your browser.
China has pursued a strict zero-Covid policy since the pandemic hit, locking down many of its major cities and imposing quarantines on foreign arrivals to keep the virus out of its borders. There is
Later this year, the policy began to crumble as authorities struggled to contain the outbreak in many cities, including the capital, Beijing. Protesters took to the streets in November in an unusual show of defiance against the central government, which has relaxed its approach dramatically.
Monday’s announcement marked the end of a zero-Covid system that has transformed China’s relationship with the outside world and successfully limited the spread of the virus over the long term.
At one point this year, an inbound international traveler had to spend three weeks in a hotel room. The current policy of 5 days in hotel and 3 days at home will end on January 8th. Arrivals must have a negative Covid test result within 48 hours of departure and must wear a mask on the flight.
China’s immigration authorities announced Tuesday that it will resume granting visas to mainland Chinese residents to travel abroad from 8 January. Authorities will also begin issuing much-needed Hong Kong entry permits for business and travel, with visa extensions and new approvals for foreign passport holders resuming on the same day, according to the National Immigration Service.
The sudden lifting of restrictions is already putting considerable pressure on China’s healthcare system. Beijing in particular was considered one of the epicenters and one of the most prepared cities before the policy was abandoned.
Recent economic data highlight the costs of the policy. Retail sales, a measure of consumer spending, fell 5.9% year-on-year in November, lower than analysts expected, and the economy is already missing its 5.5% annual growth target, which was already the lowest in decades. I was.
But analysts have also warned of the economic and corporate costs of the virus itself as it sweeps through the country, leaving Apple vulnerable to further supply chain problems.
Under the novel coronavirus zero, Chinese citizens had to conduct tests every few days at booths in major cities and scan codes with mobile phones to enter buildings. Such practices have all but disappeared as cases have risen rapidly, but most recently he said that until late November, a Shanghai individual was a close contact of a positive case in a bar, so the Central Quarantine Service I was taken to
Additional reporting by Cheng Leng from Hong Kong
