China ditches Covid quarantine requirement for arriving travellers

Flickr/Sunset Noir

From January 8, China will no longer require inbound travellers to carry out 5 days’ mandatory quarantine at a government facility, followed by 3 days’ home isolation. The change is a major step forward in relaxing the strict curbs the country has had at its borders for nearly 3 years.

According to a Reuters report, the ditching of the quarantine requirement has been confirmed by China’s National Health Commission. Health officials will also downgrade the virus from its current Category A classification – the most serious – to Category B. This is to reflect the fact that the illness is expected to eventually evolve into a common, and less severe, respiratory infection.

China’s tough zero-Covid policy and strict disease prevention measures, have taken their toll on the economy and resulted in rarely-seen anti-government protests last month. The backlash was the largest show of discontent seen since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012.

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