China Lifts Travel Regulations: End Of Zero-COVID Policy

China no longer requires quarantine for arrivals from 8 January, after authorities ditched the policy. Moreover, the exorbitant cost of airfares amid severe capacity constraints was a major deterrent for travellers.

China Lifts COVID-19 Travel Restrictions

The country’s civil aviation regulator has vowed to restore international passenger traffic. China has lifted the quarantine requirements for inbound travellers even as the country continues to grapple with a COVID-19 surge that has sparked global concern.  It’s the most significant move yet as it veers away from its stringent Zero-COVID policy.

Ahead of China’s opening up, Netherlands and Portugal became the latest countries travellers from China to show a negative Covid-19 test upon entry. The Dutch measures, which will come into force on Tuesday, are in line with European Union recommendations, the health ministry said.

Beijing is planning to drop a requirement for students at city schools to have a negative Covid-19 test to enter campus. The classes will resume on February 13. While schools will be allowed to move classes online in the event of new outbreaks, they must return to in-person instruction as soon as possible, the city education bureau said.

Hospitals in China are under immense pressure after the government abruptly abandoned its ‘Zero-COVID’ policy last month, leading to a massive spike in COVID infections. The surging wave of infections across the country has overwhelmed hospitals, emptied pharmacies of medicines and caused international alarm.

End Of Zero-COVID Policy

The reopening of China’s borders marks the end of  Zero-COVID, a strategy that left the world’s second-biggest economy isolated for three years and weighed heavily on the economy.

While the measures managed to keep the virus at bay for much of the pandemic as it killed millions elsewhere, they became increasingly irrelevant as the emergence of more infectious variants made stamping out the coronavirus all but impossible.

China is the last country to abolish border restrictions, more than a year after early Zero-COVID proponents such as Singapore, Australia and New Zealand resumed quarantine-free international travel.

Despite lifting the regulations, foreigners and business people are required for a negative PCR test and practices like near-universal mask-wearing may act as a deterrent in the near term. But for the first time since the virus emerged in Wuhan in late 2019, China has rejoined the rest of the world.

Also Read: WHO: Fresh Corona Cases Reported In China; Director-General Asks To Reveal Death Rate figures

-Bharat Express