People in China 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.
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China is set to cancel quarantine requirements for inbound international arrivals starting from January 8. National Health Commission said, management of COVID-19 will also be downgraded from Class A to Class B which means there will be no sealed control of COVID-19 cases and designation of high-risk
The decision is seen as the country’s last step in shedding three years of zero-Covid and pivoting to living with the virus. Covid-19 has been managed as a top category A infectious disease since 2020, putting it on par with bubonic plague and cholera Which mandated toughest restrictions such as quarantine and isolation of the infected and their close contacts, and citywide lockdowns to contain those diseases. category B management means Covid-19 only requires “necessary treatment and measures to curb the spread”. There are signs that China has been preparing for the pivot, with PCR testing no longer mandatory and Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan, who has been in charge of the Covid-19 response, urging lower level authorities to focus on treatment instead of infections.
Meanwhile, Cases have surged at unimaginable speed since China largely dismantled its zero-tolerance policy in recent weeks, inducing nationwide shortages of test kits and medication. Hospitals are swarmed with covid cases and ICUs are full with severe cases. Crematoriums are burdened with rising death toll in many cities. China has also not shared the hospitalisation data with WHO in last two weeks.