Faced with a powerful outbreak of COVID-19, China opened its borders

Passengers arriving from abroad will not need to be quarantined

Chinese authorities are reopening borders in connection with the start of lunar New Year travel amid a surge in COVID-19 in the country. Coronavirus outbreaks are expected to worsen as mainland China opens its doors to Hong Kong, ends quarantines for overseas visitors, and Chinese people start traveling on public holidays.

China has lifted quarantine requirements for incoming travelers, ending the vast country’s nearly three-year voluntary self-isolation despite the Chinese facing a spike in COVID cases.

On Sunday, mainland China also opened its border with Hong Kong, dismantling the last pillars of a “zero Covid” policy that protected people from the virus but also cut them off from the rest of the world, according to The Guardian.

The containment policy had a huge impact on the world’s second largest economy and sparked outrage throughout Chinese society, leading to protests shortly before it was relaxed.

As a result of the final change to those rules on Sunday, travelers entering China are no longer required to go into quarantine after nearly three years of mandatory isolation of varying lengths.

At Shanghai Pudong International Airport, a woman named Pang told the AFP news agency that she was delighted with the rule change. “I think it’s really good that the policy has changed now, it’s really humane,” she says. “I think this is a necessary step. Now Covid has returned to normal, and after this obstacle everything will be smooth.”

The Chinese have rushed to plan trips abroad after officials announced last month that the lockdown would be lifted, leading to a surge in searches on popular travel sites.

But an expected surge in visitor numbers has seen more than a dozen countries introduce mandatory COVID tests for travelers arriving from the world’s most populous country as China grapples with the worst coronavirus outbreak in history.

The outbreak is forecast to intensify as China enters the Lunar New Year holiday this month, during which millions of people are expected to travel from covid-hit metropolitan areas to the countryside to visit vulnerable elderly relatives.

China on Saturday marked the first day of “chung yun,” a 40-day lunar New Year’s travel period known before the pandemic as the world’s largest annual human migration.

This lunar new year public holiday, which officially begins on January 21, will be the first since 2020 with no domestic travel restrictions.

China’s Transportation Ministry said Friday it expects more than 2 billion passengers to travel over the next 40 days.

Hong Kong eased strict restrictions on cross-border travel with the Chinese mainland on Sunday. Hong Kong’s recession-hit economy is desperate to reconnect with its biggest source of growth, and families separated by the border are looking forward to being reunited during the lunar new year. Up to 50,000 Hong Kong residents will be able to cross the border at three ground checkpoints daily after registering online. According to Mayor John Lee, another 10,000 people will be able to enter by sea, air or bridges without prior registration. In total, more than 280,000 people signed up to make the trip within a day of the announcement of the new rules.

But travelers from Hong Kong will still need to present a negative nucleic acid test result obtained no more than 48 hours before departure. Immigration authorities will begin issuing permits to mainland residents to travel to Hong Kong and Macau “in accordance with the epidemic situation and service capabilities,” the city said. Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific said it would more than double the number of flights to the Chinese mainland.