Travelers from other countries will be able to enter the country without needing to quarantine for the first time in nearly three years
The Chinese government has reopened the borders and removed the mandatory quarantine for the international travellers, who had to be locked up for several days or even weeks in a hotel or isolation center before being allowed to enter the country. Thus, the Asian country has officially lowered the covid category from level A (the most serious) to level level B.
It is the first time in three years that the travel restriction in China, since the first measures to control the coronavirus infections in March 2020.
This measure will mean Boost for travel and the economy. Until now, many people have avoided traveling to China because they had to waste time and money respect the quarantine upon arrival: in some regions, travelers had to pay for the quarantine at the hotel on their own, while in the most serious moments of the pandemic (when there were more infections) the confinement could last up to three weeks.
Now, people who want to enter the country need only submit to negative PCR test made in the last 48 hours. Removing restrictions will allow for more business tripbut it will also allow many Chinese citizens living abroad to return to visit their families.
The change in anti-covid policies comes just over a week before the Chinese New Year, which falls on January 21-22. This festival is one of migratory movements The most important in the world: millions of Chinese they travel thousands of kilometers within the country or from abroad to return home and celebrate with their loved ones.
The border opening It shows that the Chinese government believes that the epidemiological situation is more controlled. This will lower the covid zero strategya set of very harsh measures that included the closure of businesses and public spaces, driving bans or the confinement of entire cities, which led to serious protests in China late last year.
New variants of the virus
about to be accomplished three years since the start of the pandemic, it seems that the infections are not decreasing and that the virus refuses to disappear. The great mutation ability of SARS-CoV-2 led to new variants They spread easily to different countries and continents.
One of the variants that has produced the most infections in recent weeks is the XBB.1.5better known as Kraken. It is a mutation of omicron variantwhich already at the end of 2021 had spread all over the world and had a large transmission capacity.
The Kraken subvariant appeared in United States of America and it spread easily during the Christmas holidays. Although it does not produce severe symptoms (except for the vulnerable population), it is very contagious and already accounts for almost the half of the more than 100 million cases of coronaviruses registered in this country.
In the China another subvariant of omicron predominates: the BB7 (short for BA.5.2.1.7), which also has a very high transmission speed and is responsible for the vast majority of infections, even if the lack of official data makes it impossible to know exactly how many cases there are today.
Information blackout in China
china is there most populous country in the world and one of the richest, but he is also one of the most unknown. The Chinese government claims a strong control over information which is published in the media and on social networks, both about what is happening in the country and about its population, with the aim of avoid any criticism or negative image.
IS informational censorship He has been very present during the entire covid pandemic. The official figures on the number of infections and deaths are much lower than one would expect in a country with more than 1,400 million inhabitants, which makes it doubtful whether they are true or whether they are part of a campaign to justify zero covid policies.
The first cases of covid were detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. Three years later, the severe restrictions and massive blockades imposed by the Chinese government have not yet managed to control the infections, which could exceed 3 million cases a day, according to estimates by healthcare consultancy Airfinity.
This was one of the reasons for the city protests which took place in different cities of China in late 2022. These protests were very successful international impactespecially since it is not common to see public demonstrations against the Chinese authorities.
The easing of restrictions, as is the case for international travellers, can be a government strategy to calm down among the population. However, experts believe it can affect the epidemiological situation in China, with collapsing health systems and sky-high mortality rates. This is partly due to the high population density in the country, but also due to the low vaccination rate (especially among older people) and the use of less effective vaccines.
