On Sunday, China lifted mandatory quarantines for travelers arriving from overseas, ending a three-year self-isolation as it faced a new wave of the Covid-19 epidemic.
The first arrivals have expressed relief that they are not being subjected to the burdensome quarantine procedures that have shaped Chinese daily life due to the authorities’ “zero Covid” policy.
In Hong Kong, where the border with China has reopened after several years of closure, more than 400,000 people plan to head north over the next eight weeks.
After three years of what are considered among the world’s toughest three-year lockdowns that have weighed down the Chinese economy and led to demonstrations across the country, China abruptly lifted most of its measures to combat the pandemic last month.
At Shanghai Pudong International Airport, a woman named Pan told AFP she was very happy about the lifting of the measure. “I think the policy change is a good thing,” she explained.
“I think this is a necessary step. Covid has become normal and once this obstacle is removed, everything will go well,” she added.
The announcement in December that the lockdown would soon be lifted prompted the Chinese to plan trips abroad, resulting in a huge increase in traffic to airline booking websites.
Introduction of checks for Chinese travelers
However, the prospect of a massive influx of Chinese tourists has prompted more than a dozen countries to introduce diagnostic tests for travelers arriving from China, as injuries soar.
Beijing has denounced these travel restrictions imposed on its citizens as “unacceptable” even though China remains largely closed to foreign tourists and students as of 2020.
The spread of the epidemic in China is expected to worsen as the Chinese New Year approaches in late January, during which millions of people travel from major cities where infections are high to the countryside to visit parents, who are often elderly and vulnerable.
China has taken action to dispel criticism over its chaotic path to ditch its “zero Covid” policy. Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, said it recently suspended 1,120 accounts “due to violations against experts and academics.”
We left without procedures.
And on Sunday, the barriers separating incoming international flights from domestic ones, as well as employees in protective suits, which have been an integral part of Chinese life since the introduction of the “zero Covid” policy, disappeared at the Beijing airport.
A young woman who came to greet a friend from Hong Kong said that the first thing they would do would be to have lunch together. “It’s so amazing, we haven’t seen each other for a long time,” Wu, 20, told AFP.
At the Shanghai airport, a man named Yang, who came from the US, said he didn’t know the rules had changed. “I have no idea about it,” he told AFP in surprise.
He added: “I would have considered myself lucky if I had been quarantined for two days, but it turned out that I didn’t have to quarantine at all, and I didn’t have to fill out paperwork. We left without any procedure, as it was before.”
Another woman, who asked not to be named, told AFP: “I am very happy that I will not be quarantined… Who wants to be quarantined? Nobody”.
Hong Kong opens
Also in Hong Kong, strict restrictions on movement in and out of mainland China were lifted on Sunday.
Hong Kong’s stagnating economy is striving to get back on the road to growth, and families are looking forward to seeing each other again on the occasion of the Chinese New Year.
Around 410,000 Hong Kong residents plan to head north in the next two months, with about 7,000 people from mainland China scheduled to head south on Sunday, according to official figures.
On Sunday, at the Welk Ma Shu crossing near the city of Shenzhen, a mainland Chinese student named Jing told AFP that he was happy to cross the border without any restrictions.
He explained: “I am happy as long as I do not have to obey the stone. It is unbearable”.
