China to scrap quarantine for inbound travellers as COVID-19 rules ease further

People in China, cut off from the rest of the world for three years by COVID-19 restrictions, flocked to travel sites on Tuesday before borders reopened, even as rising infections strained the health system and disrupted the economy.

Zero-tolerance measures – from closed borders to frequent lockdowns – have crippled China’s economy since early 2020, sparking the biggest public discontent on the mainland last month since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012.

A policy U-turn this month means the virus is now spreading unchecked in a country of 1.4 billion people.

However, official statistics showed only one death from COVID-19 in the seven days to Monday, raising doubts among health experts and citizens about the government’s data. These numbers are not consistent with the experience of less populous countries after reopening.

Doctors say hospitals are overwhelmed with five to six times more patients than usual, most of them elderly. International health experts estimate millions of infections every day and predict at least one million COVID-19 deaths in China next year.

However, the authorities decided to dismantle the remnants of the zero-COVID-19 policy.

In a major move to ease border restrictions that was encouraged by global stock markets on Tuesday, China will stop requiring people arriving to quarantine from January 8, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Monday.

“In the end it looks like China has stopped,” AmCham China chairman Colm Rafferty said of the impending quarantine rules.

There is no official ban on Chinese going abroad but the new rules will make it easier to return home.

Searches for popular destinations are on the rise

Data from travel platform Ctrip showed that within half an hour of the announcement, searches for the popular cross-border destination had increased tenfold. Macau, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, South Korea are the most searched, Ctrip said.

Data from Trip.com showed outbound flight bookings were up 254 percent on Tuesday from the previous day.

However, Chinese agencies and regular travelers suggest that a return to normal will take several months, due to concerns about COVID-19 and spending more cautiously due to the impact of the pandemic.

After the border with Hong Kong reopens next month, people in mainland China will be able to take an mRNA vaccine made by BioNTech, which appears to be more effective than those available on the mainland.

Reduce the seriousness of COVID

The classification of COVID-19 in China will also be downgraded to the less strict Category B from the current top level Category A from January 8, health authorities said, meaning authorities will no longer be forced to quarantine patients and close contacts and impose a lockdown. .

China has changed the name for COVID-19 from “novel coronavirus pneumonia” to “novel coronavirus infection,” said a statement released by the National Health Commission on Monday. Omicron remains the dominant variant of COVID-19 in the country, officials at China’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

But amid all the excitement of a gradual return to a pre-pandemic way of life, there is pressure on the health care system, with doctors saying many hospitals are overwhelmed while funeral parlors report an increase in demand for their services.

Nurses and doctors are being asked to work as sick and retired medical workers in rural communities are being recruited to help, state media reported. Some cities have struggled to secure supplies of anti-fever drugs.

“Some places are under great pressure in hospital emergency wards and intensive care units,” NHC official Jiao Yahui told reporters.

While the world’s second-largest economy is expected to bounce back next year, it will slow down in the coming weeks and months as workers get sicker.

Many stores in Shanghai, Beijing and elsewhere have been closed in recent days as staff are absent from work, while some factories have sent many employees on leave for the Lunar New Year holiday at the end of January.

The workforce is still affected by the infection

“Concerns of temporary supply chain distortions remain as the workforce becomes infected,” JPMorgan analysts said in a note, adding that rail traffic tracking in 29 cities showed many people were restricting their movements as the virus spread.

Lifting travel restrictions is positive for the $17 trillion economy, but strong caveats apply.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said his country requires negative COVID-19 tests for travelers from mainland China. The government will also restrict airlines that increase flights to China, he said.

“International travel … may be increasing, but it will take a few more months before volumes return to pre-pandemic levels,” said Dan Wang, chief economist at China’s Hang Seng Bank.

“The COVID-19 is still spreading in most parts of China, disrupting normal work schedules. The loss of productivity is significant.”