This Monday, a new announcement surfaced in China, from January 8, 2023, none of the foreign travelers will need to quarantine in a hotel.
Earlier every person traveling to mainland China had to undergo a mandatory quarantine in a designated hotel for 14 days. The period of stay decreased only this summer, before that the quarantine period was 21 days.
This is a new ease in zero-COVID policy, which changes its fundamental objective. The shift in policies also raises concern in the international community as people in China are already facing a deadly wave of COVID.
Furthermore, China is also changing its visa arrangements for foreigners. The new rules will be valid for all kinds of visas like work, business, study, relatives, or other gathering permits.
The people of China currently face some strict rules if they’ve to go abroad, but the administration has announced that the ability to travel abroad will also be resumed, but that would take place in an incremental manner.
In further explanation, China’s NHC said that from January 8 onwards, there would not be any tracking of people remaining in close contact with COVID patients. There will not be any tagging of COVID risk areas.
All the measures that slowed down the movement of goods in the country will be eliminated.
There are still requirements related to wearing a mask on all occasions in the country. However, for travelers coming to China, there wouldn’t be any mandate to show a negative report of the past 48 hours.
Also, the need for obtaining a health code in the country is now obsolete.
In the past year, the economy of China has suffered a lot due to the strict rules and regulations imposed on businesses.
There was a period when China had to shut down all its operations in Shanghai which caused a huge loss to the country. The strict lockdown disrupted the working of businesses and factories in the city.
Due to the restriction, the businesses of many people were at a total loss and they had to switch their businesses. This has put a lot of people in huge losses which further converted to a high unemployment rate in the area.
Now, with easing the stringent policy approach, the Chinese government is trying to put its economy back on track. But recently, there were reports of an increase in COVID cases in the country.
About 250 million cases were registered in China in the past twenty days, which was the highest in the last three years.
With now providing ease in the quarantines and other norms, the concern of rising cases will increase. The international communities have raised the alarms to be prepared for anything and everything in the coming days.
Countries like India, Sri Lanka, and Brazil have started to devise new strategies to prevent the spread of COVID in the country.
