Chinese plan overseas trips as last Covid curb removed

This picture on January 18, 2022 shows passengers in protective gear disembarking at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai. Pic/AFP

The Chinese reacted with joy and rushed to book flights overseas Tuesday after Beijing said it would scrap mandatory COVID quarantine for overseas arrivals, ending almost three years of self-imposed isolation.

In a snap move late Monday, China said from January 8 inbound travellers would no longer be required to quarantine upon arrival, in a further unwinding of hardline COVID-19 controls that had torpedoed its economy and sparked nationwide protests.

Chinese social media users reacted with joy to the end of restrictions that have kept the country largely closed off to the outside world since March 2020. "It's over... spring is coming," said one top-voted comment on the Twitter-like Weibo social media site.

Also Read: China gives up reporting Covid-19 figures as virus rips through population

Online searches for flights abroad surged on the news, state media reported, with the travel platform Tongcheng seeing an 850 per cent jump in searches and a tenfold jump in inquiries about visas.

The new rules follow China's decision this month to roll back much of a zero-COVID regime that had mandated mass testing, strict lockdowns and long quarantines in government-run facilities.

Cases have surged nationwide following that easing, in an outbreak that authorities have admitted is now "impossible" to track.

January 8
From when inbound travellers will no longer be required to quarantine on arrival

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever