China is set to relax its entry quarantine requirements soon after having had 14 to 21-day quarantine at special facilities in place since March 2020.
The current mandatory 14-day quarantine followed by 7 days of monitoring at home will change to 7 days at the quarantine facility followed by 3 days at home.
It is unclear if this lowered quarantine requirement is rolled out at all entry points or if some local governments continue to require a longer isolation period.
There are now also talks that the country may have restrictive entry requirements in place perhaps through the second half of 2023 – excerpt from the SCMP:
“The European chamber recognises that China cannot open its borders completely due to relatively low vaccination rates, particularly among those aged 60 and above,” said Joerg Wuttke, president of the EU business group.
“This, in conjunction with a slow introduction of mRNA vaccines, means that China may have to maintain a restricted immigration policy beyond the summer of 2023.”
There will be a total of FIVE Covid-tests while in isolation – excerpt from the SCMP::
While overseas arrivals will now spend less time in quarantine, they will have to undergo more testing under the new guidelines – five tests in total when they are in the isolation facility, compared to four previously.
Anyone who comes into contact with inbound travellers and goods – including truck drivers, customs and immigration officials and healthcare workers at designated quarantine facilities – will have to get a PCR test every day.
Conclusion
Mainland Chinese are currently not allowed to make non-essential travel overseas, and it is unclear when this recommendation or rule will be lifted.
Beijing cannot win this battle against the coronavirus and its variants. The best it can do is to get the older population vaccinated using modern vaccines and then let the virus go through the population.
Some mixed signals were coming from China that not everyone was happy with month-long lockdowns when residents were not allowed to leave their apartments.
Let’s hope that the Chinese leadership can find a more reasonable approach for opening the border and handling the covid-cases.
