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Arriving passenger at Shanghai International Airport on Sunday morning.
After almost three years, China has lifted the quarantine requirement for people entering the country from abroad
Photo: HECTOR RETAMAL / AFP
Travel to and from China has been significantly easier since this Sunday after the People's Republic was sealed off from abroad for around three years.
Quarantine is no longer mandatory for those entering the country.
All you have to do is submit a negative Corona PCR test that is no more than 48 hours old.
The barriers that once separated travelers from international and domestic flights had disappeared at Beijing Airport on Sunday.
The employees in protective suits, an integral part of the People's Republic's previous zero-Covid policy, were no longer to be seen.
At the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, a woman told the AFP news agency that she was happy that the corona rules had been changed.
"It's a necessary step." Another woman said she was glad she wasn't in quarantine.
“Who wants to be in quarantine?
Nobody,” she said.
In a radical about-face, Beijing abandoned its strict zero-Covid policy at the beginning of December.
China is currently experiencing the highest increase in corona infections in the world.
Some experts fear more than a million deaths.
Since then, concerns about new virus variants that could be brought in by travelers from the People's Republic have been growing worldwide.
In view of the expected wave of travel, many countries, including Germany, are therefore requiring a negative corona test upon entry.
The federal government also advises against unnecessary trips to China.
Beijing had described the travel restrictions imposed by some countries as "unacceptable" and threatened countermeasures.
che/AFP
