China reopens its borders: "We are finally reconnected with the world"

2023-01-08T20:24:48.630Z

The first travelers from abroad who are not required to undergo a mandatory quarantine star in emotional scenes upon arrival. Marks the end of the zero covid policy

China reopens its borders after remaining practically sealed to the world for more than a thousand days: as of this Sunday, travelers from abroad no longer have to do a mandatory quarantine in a hotel after entering the Asian country.

The confinements reached up to three weeks in isolation in a hotel where the newly landed were subjected to a carousel of PCR tests, although their duration had been reduced in recent months to five days.

The change ends a cumbersome requirement that started on March 28, 2020, at the dawn of the pandemic, and that China had decided to maintain while the rest of the world already chose to live with the virus.

The change represents another milestone in the end of the iron zero covid policy, abruptly announced by Beijing a month ago,

Emotional moments have been experienced in Chinese airports.

The nearly 300 passengers on China Southern Airline flight 312, from Toronto (Canada), who landed at 00:16 this Sunday at the airport in the city of Guangzhou, in the south of the country, were the first to enjoy a quarantine-free entry into China in almost three years.

“I am so happy to be able to travel directly home, there is no need to quarantine anymore,” said one of the recently landed, surnamed Gong, according to the official

Global Times

newspaper .

"It's an exciting day," says another passenger on the same flight, in statements collected by Canton television.

"I'll finally be able to see my mother."

On the border between Hong Kong and mainland China, where the quarantine requirement has also been lifted, similar scenes have been repeated.

“I feel so excited and strange at the same time… We really haven't seen each other for so long,” said Karin Xu, a 24-year-old woman, after meeting up with her boyfriend, who had just crossed the Hong Kong to Shenzhen pass in one of the first trains in the morning, according to the Hong Kong newspaper

South China Morning Post.

More than 36,000 people had crossed this border by four in the afternoon in China.

“I had been waiting a long time for the reopening.

We are finally reconnected with the world.

I'm delighted, I can't believe it," Shen, a 55-year-old businesswoman, acknowledged after landing at Beijing airport from Hong Kong, according to Reuters.

The Chinese reopening, in any case, is not yet complete: the Government has not yet confirmed when it will issue tourist visas for foreigners again, although it has made reference, but without giving details, that everything possible will be done to facilitate the procedures for obtaining business, work, study or family reunification visas for foreigners.

Meanwhile, the influx of Chinese tourists to the rest of the world is expected to grow again: among the measures that come into force this Sunday, there is also the resumption of the processing of applications for ordinary passports of Chinese citizens for tourism purposes and visit friends abroad, as announced by the Government at the end of December.

The foreseeable wave of travelers from the Asian giant, which is currently experiencing an unprecedented outbreak of covid infections, has aroused the concern of a part of the international community.

Several countries, including the United States, Japan, Italy and Spain, have begun to impose restrictions on travelers from China, and the European Union has recommended doing so, threatening to open a new front of disputes with Beijing.

China has strongly opposed the restrictions, claiming they are for political purposes and not based on science.

However, when the Government announced the end of the quarantines, it reported that the only entry requirement would be a PCR carried out within 48 hours before boarding.

Opacity in figures

The reopening comes at a time when the coronavirus is rampant in a country that has tried to keep outbreaks at zero for nearly three years.

After turning around its anti-pandemic policy at the beginning of December, hospitals in many cities across the country have been overwhelmed and their intensive care units are working overtime.

Officially, the country reports very few deaths from covid: two in the previous day, and 34 since the change in health strategy was forged a month ago.

But the images that circulate on social networks and published by international media show a much harsher reality;

some international studies predict that it could exceed a million deaths in the coming months.

The reopening of the country coincides with the start of the Chinese New Year festive period, which will be a thermometer to measure the return to normality, but it is also feared that it could become a vector for the transmission of the virus from large cities to the provinces. with fewer healthcare resources.

The Chinese government expects around 2 billion displacements to take place, almost double the number of the previous year.

On Saturday, the first day of the travel fever of this period, which is usually considered the largest migratory wave on the planet, about 35 million people traveled, almost 40% more than in 2022, according to the official agency Xinhua.