Amid Covid Surge, China To Reopen Borders, Scrap Quarantine For Int'l Travelers From Next Month
Additionally, China is prepared to move COVID-19 from Class A to B management.
In a landmark move for the nation as it reopens its international borders and exits international isolation after almost three years, China will abolish quarantine for visitors from January 8 of next year, according to an official declaration made here on Monday, news agency PTI reported.
Additionally, China is prepared to move COVID-19 from Class A to B management.
These declarations come as the nation struggles to deal with a rapid rise in coronavirus infections brought on by the Omicron strains after the Xi Jinping administration eased its strict zero-Covid policy earlier this month in response to a wave of anti-government demonstrations.
The National Health Commission said on Monday that beginning on January 8, 2023, China would end its incoming quarantine policy for foreign immigrants.
Additionally, the COVID-19 management would be demoted from Class A to B as of the next month, according to the Commission.
According to officials, Omicron variations were not as deadly as the Delta strain, which claimed a significant number of lives around the world.
As China reopens its borders and emerges from international isolation, the elimination of the quarantine for visitors from other countries is seen as a significant step.
Prior to being gradually decreased to five days with three days of observation, people arriving from overseas were required to spend more than two weeks in quarantine at government facilities.
According to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, COVID-19 has been treated as a high category "A" contagious illness since 2020, placing it on par with cholera and the bubonic plague.
In order to contain these diseases, authorities are required by Chinese law to enforce the strictest regulations, including lockdowns, isolation, and quarantine of the afflicted and their close connections.
Depending on the incubation period, the sick must be confined at the border while those who may be infected must be isolated.
Beginning on Sunday, the National Health Commission ceased reporting daily Covid instances.
Before it became a pandemic, the new coronavirus initially appeared in the city of Wuhan in central China in December 2019.
(With PTI Inputs)
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