China will end the mandatory quarantine for travelers from abroad as of January 8, the Chinese authorities announced Monday, after the lifting, this month, of most of the anti-Covid-19 measures in force since 2020.
Starting next month, only a negative test within 48 hours will be required to enter Chinese territory, and passengers will no longer need to apply for a green health code before their trip to China, the Health Commission said in a statement. , which has the functions. of a ministry.
According to the Chinese health authorities, and in a new step in the dismantling of the “Zero Covid” policy, Covid-19 will no longer be considered a category A disease, the maximum level of danger and whose containment implies the most severe measures. be classified as category B, which implies a less demanding control.
In this way, the Health Commission reported that it no longer considers Covid-19 as “pneumonia”, but as a less dangerous “contagious” disease.
China is the only major economy that continued to impose quarantines on arrival in its territory, which penalized tourism in particular, although their duration has been reduced in recent months.
Currently it involved five days in a hotel, followed by another three days of observation.
In June, China had already halved the length of mandatory quarantine for travelers traveling to the country. At that time, it was reduced from 21 days to 10 days.
However, the country’s borders remain almost completely closed since the beginning of 2020.
For about three years, China stopped issuing tourist visas and international air connections registered a sharp reduction.
Covid-19 is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.
In early December, the Chinese authorities withdrew most of the draconian measures that constituted their zero-tolerance strategy against covid-19, claiming that in the current “new situation” the virus causes fewer deaths.
Source: TSF
