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China to stop COVID quarantine for visitors starting January 2023

Date: December 28, 2022 Meghna Singh Meghna Singh
China to stop COVID quarantine for visitors starting January 2023 
China is reportedly planning to terminate quarantine for travelers from January 8, 2023, marking the last big withdrawal from the nation's zero-Covid policy, as per officials.



Notably, the move will reopen the nation to people with work and study visas as well as those who want to fly back home after nearly three years of border controls.



The immigration authority stated on Tuesday that Chinese citizens will have easier access to overseas travel. Covid has rapidly spread after the regulations were lifted. Elderly people are reportedly dying and hospitals are overworked, as per reports.



The exact number of cases in terms of daily infection counts and fatalities is currently unknown since Chinese authorities will no longer publish daily Covid counts.



Last week, Beijing recorded a few deaths and around 4,000 new Covid infections per day.



On Sunday, China announced that it will no longer post the number of Covid cases. However, according to Airfinity, a British health data company, China records over a million infections and 5,000 fatalities every day.



After three years of lockdowns, border controls, and compulsory quarantines for Covid patients and contacts, China is the last major economy around the world to transition to ‘living with Covid.’



The stringent zero-Covid regulation severely impacted the economy and wore out the citizens.



In November, resentment over the policies erupted into unusually large-scale mass protests against President Xi Jinping. A few weeks later, the government revoked the Covid regulations.



Closed borders continue to be the primary limitation. Anyone visiting China since March 2020 has been subjected to undertake mandatory quarantine at a government-owned facility for at least three weeks at a time. Recently, it was cut to five days.



On the other hand, Covid was formally demoted to a Class B infectious disease on January 8 as per a statement made by the National Health Commission on Monday.



The quarantine will thus be eliminated while arriving visitors would still need to adhere to a PCR test. In addition, a limit on the daily flights allowed into the country would also be scrapped.



Source credit: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-64097497

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Meghna Singh

An English Literature graduate, Meghna Singh ventured into the profession of content development to incorporate her knack for writing articles across verticals including technology, healthcare, business, and alike for News Origins and Newsorigins. She has also completed her MBA in Tourism and worked as a content creator in the field of product development.