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BEIJING, Dec. 27 (PTI) In January next year, China will effectively abandon its three-year-old zero-epidemic policy and international quarantine, fully opening its airports and ports for travel amidst a massive domestic coronavirus outbreak. and trade use.
From Jan. 8, China will cancel the need for nucleic acid testing for international arrivals, obtaining a Covid green code from Chinese embassies abroad and entry quarantine, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
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Earlier this month, the travel rule was scrapped entirely as China grapples with a sudden surge in coronavirus infections caused by the Omicron variant after Xi Jinping’s regime eased its strict zero-coronavirus policy following a wave of anti-government protests.
Officials have argued that the Omicron variant is not as deadly as the Delta strain, which has killed and killed many people around the world.
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While the announcement of scrapping all quarantine rules was widely welcomed, especially by foreign companies in China, the timing of the opening has also raised concerns because it comes just in time for China’s annual Spring Festival on Jan. 22, when millions of Chinese will Travel to domestic and foreign destinations.
From January 8, China will also lower the management of the disease from Class A to Class B in accordance with the “Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases”, and cancel the management of quarantine infectious diseases. This is a major change in the epidemic response policy.
The novel coronavirus broke out in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019 and then became a pandemic.
The Spring Festival holiday will last for more than a week, and Chinese people are expected to travel abroad in large numbers, considering that they do not need to be quarantined when they return home.
Previously, travelers from abroad had to be quarantined for more than two weeks in government residences, which was gradually reduced to five days and three days of home observation.
India and several other countries have announced safety measures such as testing and medical checks for passengers arriving from China and other virus-endemic countries.
Passengers entering China are advised to undergo a nucleic acid test within 48 hours of departure, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
It said people who tested positive were advised to postpone travel until they tested negative.
Passengers do not need to apply for a health code at Chinese embassies and consulates abroad, and passengers declare their health status on the customs card.
Those with abnormal health declarations or fever symptoms will undergo antigen testing at customs.
They will be advised to self-isolate at home until they recover or receive treatment in hospital, depending on their health status, it said.
China will lift restrictions on international passenger flights, increase the number of flights in stages, and optimize route layout, the Ministry of Commerce said. There are less and less international flights to China now, and under the zero covid policy, limited flights are diverted to different cities in China.
Beijing, home to China’s top leaders and diplomatic corps, allows few international flights.
Currently, there are no direct flights from India to China, mainly due to Beijing rules that scheduled flights are abruptly canceled whenever some passengers are tested positive for Covid upon arrival at Chinese airports.
According to people familiar with the matter here, the lifting of travel restrictions from January 8 could lead to the resumption of flights after a new airline agreement is reached.
The foreign ministry statement said airlines would continue to sanitize their planes and require passengers to wear masks when flying.
China will further optimize arrangements for foreigners to come to China for work, business, study, family visits, reunions, etc., and provide visa convenience accordingly.
Measures will be taken to ensure that the cargo volume at each port returns to the pre-epidemic level as soon as possible, and the outbound travel of Chinese citizens is resumed in an orderly manner.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing here on Tuesday that the changes were in line with the optimization of domestic epidemic prevention and control measures.
These measures will coordinate epidemic prevention and control with economic and social development, making cross-border travel more convenient, safe, orderly and efficient, he said.
Liang Wannian, head of the expert team overseeing the country’s Covid-19 response, said the relaxation does not mean giving up control of Covid-19 entirely, but preparing for a smooth transition.
At the same time, it is also important to have confidence in new responses.
“Parts of the country have been or are being hit by the first wave of the epidemic without the large-scale serious illness or death we feared. This shows that we need to have confidence,” Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post quoted Liang as saying.
But given the rapid spread of the disease in a short period of time, China needs to step up monitoring of the disease and virus mutations, he said.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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