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"Everything is starting to get better": after three years of isolation due to covid, China opens its doors to the world

2023-01-09T12:13:31.248Z


The relaxation of China's strict border controls marks a big step for the country as it quickly shakes off years of draconian covid-19 restrictions.


The covid-19 outbreak in China worries markets 8:58

(CNN) --

Thousands of travelers poured across mainland China's borders on Sunday to enjoy joyful reunions and long-awaited trips, as authorities eased restrictions that had separated families and isolated the world's most populous country for nearly three years. .

At international airports in China's major cities, families were waiting for returnees at the departure gates for the first time since the early days of the pandemic, a radical departure from old covid protocols in which all arrivals they were processed by workers dressed in hazmat suits and taken to mandatory hotel quarantine for days or weeks.

A Beijing resident surnamed Yu brought her young son to the Beijing Capital International Airport to await the arrival of her husband who was returning home from work in Spain for the first time in nearly a year.

“(Previously) we would not have been able to pick him up here today, because he would have had to quarantine before returning home.

We are excited to see him today,” Yu said, moments before her husband arrived and took her son in her arms.

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In Hong Kong, where most border checkpoints with mainland China had been closed since the early days of the pandemic, residents waited to welcome their loved ones at the previously closed Lok Ma Chau station, as that mainland China has also relaxed its border controls with the city.

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"I have waited so long for this," said newlywed Felicia Feng in Hong Kong, who had not seen her husband since they married on the mainland a few months earlier.

"This is her first time in Hong Kong...I have a whole list of food and places we want to go to," she said, adding that although her hometown in mainland China is not far from Hong Kong, she too she had been limited in how often she could see her family again during the pandemic.

“This creates many difficulties for my life, but now it seems that everything is starting to improve,” he said.

The Hong Kong government said up to 60,000 people a day could cross the border between the city and mainland China in both directions, and tens of thousands of people did just that on Sunday, it added.

  • Everything you need to know about the reopening of the country after the lifting of covid-19 restrictions

Passengers in the international flight arrivals area at Beijing Capital International Airport on January 8, 2023. (Credit: Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images)

Three years of restrictions are in the past

The relaxation of China's strict border controls, both with Hong Kong and internationally, marks a big step for the country as it quickly shakes off years of draconian covid-19 restrictions.

For nearly three years, strict border controls had cut off China from the rest of the world and placed a heavy burden on families and businesses with ties to the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and abroad.

As other countries lifted covid travel restrictions over the past year, entering China remained a rigorous and expensive test for overseas Chinese nationals hoping to return home and other travelers eligible to enter the country, it required quarantine, multiple covid tests and a fight for seats on limited flights.

Late last month, Beijing announced it would remove the quarantine requirement for foreign arrivals and relax restrictions limiting capacity for international flights from January 8, while authorities on Thursday confirmed plans to reopen. the border with Hong Kong the same day.

For international travel to China, Beijing has not yet given the green light for foreign tourists, and incoming travelers will need to show a negative covid test result obtained within 48 hours prior to departure.

But the policy change streamlines the entry process for eligible travelers and will also see authorities start processing passport applications from Chinese citizens for tourism outside of China, which had been limited to discourage leisure travel.

The rule change, announced late last month, sparked great interest in China, with bookings for overseas travel during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on January 21 this year, rising 540% over to the previous year, according to data from the Chinese travel platform Trip.com Group.

"A lot of people are very interested in taking their family on a nice vacation after three years of lockdown," Jane Sun, chief executive of Trip.com Group, told CNN on Monday, pointing to the upcoming week-long vacation as another driver.

Meanwhile, China's travel industry was preparing for the expected rebound in travel, Sun said.

"We expect that by the first quarter or two (of 2023), it will take time for airlines and hotels to rehire their staff and build the infrastructure. During the second half of this year, hopefully, the infrastructure will be back up and running." function. normal," he said.

Travelers wait for their luggage at the baggage claim area at Shanghai Pudong International Airport as China lifts quarantine requirements for international arrivals on January 8, 2023 in Shanghai, China.

(Credit: VCG/Visual China Group/VCG/Getty Images)

Other countries impose restrictions on Chinese travelers

However, some travelers will need to take a covid test before leaving China to comply with rules set by other countries.

Several countries have implemented covid testing requirements for travelers from China, citing paucity of data on the strains circulating amid the rampant and ongoing outbreak of covid-19 in the country.

Another Beijing resident surnamed He expressed relief at the ease of travel on Sunday as he prepared to take his family to Macao for a holiday ahead of the Lunar New Year.

Compared to last summer, when he also left China, finding tickets and preparing travel documents was much easier, he said.

“Now it's faster.

You can just buy a ticket, renew (your travel permit) and go… and then you can start your own life the same day you land,” she said.

But others, like Hong Kong resident Anthony Chan who traveled to the mainland to attend a cousin's wedding, lamented the time lost when it came to seeing loved ones and being able to live life as usual.

The 18-year-old said he had not been able to see his extended family across the border for about three years amid other restrictions on daily life due to pandemic controls.

“Politics (continued) damaging our lives in recent years…it is not (that) we are afraid of the covid.

It is that we are afraid of this policy, ”he said.

-- Jadyn Sham, Kathleen Magramo and Cheng Cheng contributed reporting.

Covid-19

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2023-01-09

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