China lifted, on Sunday, the mandatory quarantine for travelers arriving from abroad, thus ending a three-year self-imposed isolation at a time when it is facing a new epidemic wave of Covid-19.
The first arrivals expressed their relief at not being subjected to the cumbersome quarantine procedures that have shaped daily life for Chinese due to the authorities’ “zero Covid” policy.
In Hong Kong, where the border with China has reopened after years of closure, more than 400,000 people plan to travel north over the next eight weeks.
After restrictions imposed for three years, considered among the most stringent in the world, burdened the Chinese economy and led to demonstrations across the country, China abruptly lifted most of the measures to combat this pandemic last month, according to “Agence France Presse”.
Investors hope reopening will eventually revitalize the $17 trillion economy, which is suffering its lowest growth rate in nearly half a century, but the sudden policy shift led to a massive wave of infections that overwhelmed some hospitals and disrupted businesses. , according to Archyde.com.
At Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport, a woman named Pang told AFP she was very happy that the measure had been lifted. “I think the policy change is a good thing,” she said.
“This is a necessary stage, I think. Covid has become a normal thing, and after removing this obstacle, everything will go well,” she added.
The announcement in December of the imminent lifting of the quarantine prompted Chinese to plan to travel abroad, which led to a huge increase in traffic on flight booking sites.
The government says about two billion people are expected to travel this season, nearly double last year’s traffic and 70 percent of 2019 levels, according to Archyde.com.
However, the prospect of a massive influx of Chinese tourists prompted more than ten countries to impose diagnostic examinations on travelers arriving from China, as the number of injuries increased significantly, according to “Agence France Presse”.
Beijing denounced these travel restrictions imposed on its citizens, and considered them “unacceptable”, although China has remained largely closed since 2020 to foreign tourists and students.
It is expected that the spread of the epidemic in China will worsen with the approach of the Chinese New Year holiday at the end of January, during which millions of people travel from major cities where many infections are recorded, to the countryside to visit parents who are often elderly and in a vulnerable position.
China has taken measures to defuse criticism over its chaotic path to abandon its “zero Covid” policy.
Weibo, the equivalent of Twitter in China, said it had recently banned 1,120 accounts “due to violations against experts and academics.”
We left without procedures.
And Sunday, at Beijing airport, the barriers separating incoming international flights from domestic ones disappeared, as well as employees wearing protective suits that have been an essential component of Chinese life since the imposition of the “zero Covid” policy.
A young woman who came to greet a friend from Hong Kong said that the first thing they would do was have a meal together.
“It’s so amazing, we haven’t seen each other for a long time,” Wu, 20, told AFP.
At Shanghai airport, a man named Yang who had come from the United States said he was unaware the rules had changed.
“I have no idea about that,” he told AFP, surprised.
He added, “I would have considered myself lucky if I had been quarantined for two days, but it turned out that I did not need to quarantine myself at all, and I did not have to fill out documents. We left without any procedure, as was the case in the past.”
Another woman, who preferred not to be named, told AFP, “I am very happy that I will not be quarantined… Who wants to be quarantined? No one.”
Hong Kong is opening up
Also in Hong Kong, strict restrictions on movement to and from mainland China were eased on Sunday as well.
Hong Kong’s stagnant economy is seeking in every way to take the path of growth again, as families eagerly await to meet again on the occasion of the Chinese New Year.
Over the next two months, 410,000 Hong Kong residents plan to travel to the north, while about 7,000 mainland Chinese travel to the south on Sunday, official data showed.
On Sunday, at the Welk Ma Shu crossing near the city of Shenzhen, a student from mainland China named Jing told Agence France-Presse that he was happy to cross without any restrictions.
He explained, “I am happy as long as I do not need to be subject to stone. It is unbearable.”
“I am so happy, so happy, so excited. I haven’t seen my father in years,” said Teresa Chow, a resident of Hong Kong, according to Archyde.com.