Corona virus: China removes quarantine requirement on entry

For almost three years, people entering China have had to be in quarantine – the measure will no longer apply from January 8th. President Xi, meanwhile, urged the authorities to take effective steps to protect against Corona.

China has announced an end to the quarantine requirement for travelers to the People’s Republic. As announced by the Beijing Health Commission, the danger level of the corona virus will be lowered from January 8th. This means that travelers no longer have to endure hotel quarantine after their arrival, as the announcement revealed. This will repeal a rule that has been in effect since the pandemic began almost three years ago.

Most recently, travelers were isolated in a hotel room for at least five days and closely monitored – at times an entry quarantine of 21 days was even required. According to the Commission, in future only a negative corona test will have to be submitted before departure to China. Further tests after arrival should be omitted.

Gradually, the Chinese should also be allowed to do more international travel again. During the pandemic, the government had severely restricted travel abroad for its own compatriots.

Xi calls for better protection

Meanwhile, amid his country’s move away from the zero-Covid policy, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for taking effective steps to protect the population. “Currently, Covid-19 prevention and control in China is facing a new situation and new tasks,” he said in a guideline, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The “patriotic health campaign” should start in a more targeted manner, and “people’s lives, health and safety” must be “effectively protected”.

These were the first public statements by the head of state since the country backed away from its strict corona measures in early December. At the beginning of December, after nationwide protests, the People’s Republic surprisingly heralded the end of its controversial zero-Covid policy with lockdowns and mass tests. The lifting of the entry quarantine is now a further relaxation.

Massive increase in infections after political reversal

The about-face in corona policy was justified by the fact that infections with the new Omikron variants were no longer so difficult. But experts saw the reason above all in the fact that the strict measures could no longer be maintained in view of the explosive spread. The restrictions also increasingly burdened the second largest economy.

With the end of almost all measures, the virus is now spreading rapidly in China. It is assumed that in Beijing alone more than half of the population is infected, says Marie von Mallinckrodt, correspondent in the ARD Studio Beijing. The health system is massively overloaded and there is a lack of capacity in every respect. The crematoria would be closely guarded by the police and could barely cope with the death toll.

According to studies, around a million people could die in the coming months. Previously, however, Beijing had stopped publishing daily corona data after almost three years. The national health commission announced that the number of new infections and deaths would no longer be announced on a daily basis. She did not give a reason for this.