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Travelers at Gaoqi International Airport in the southeast Chinese city of Xiamen
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MARK R. CRISTINO / EPO
From January 8, 2023, China will no longer require quarantine for people entering the country from abroad, but only a negative PCR test, as the National Health Commission announced.
This repeals a rule that has been in effect since the pandemic began almost three years ago.
In addition, all existing restrictions on international flights to China are to be lifted.
China has classified Covid-19 as an infectious disease in the highest category A since 2020.
This put it on a par with other infectious diseases such as bubonic plague and cholera, which was one of the reasons for the strict corona measures.
And that included the quarantine rules for people entering the country from abroad.
But they no longer apply because Covid-19 is now downgraded to category B.
China's government under President Xi Jinping surprisingly abandoned its strict zero-Covid policy in December after nationwide protests and abandoned most of the corona rules.
Since then, there has been an uncontrolled contamination of the population.
China's health commission assumes 248 million new infections in the first three weeks of December, according to a leaked paper.
health system unprepared
Although many people welcomed the easing, the health system in many parts of the country is not sufficiently prepared for the wave of infections.
Medicines are in short supply and hospitals are overcrowded.
Crematoria and undertakers are also apparently having problems because of the increasing number of deaths.
The situation is likely to worsen when the Chinese New Year is celebrated in January and numerous people travel to their families.
Nevertheless, China's national health commission has stopped publishing the daily corona numbers.
In addition, the official Covid-19 death rate only registers deaths from pneumonia or respiratory failure;
Deaths with previous illnesses are no longer included in these statistics.
col/Reuters