China is relaxing Covid restrictions for international passengers now, after scrapping zero-Covid diktat
China is in a state of dilemma with regard to Covid-19. Infections are soaring in the country and hospitals and crematoriums are struggling to cope with the numbers. The scenes are the same as what India witnessed in 2021 during the second Covid wave.
But on the other hand, the Chinese government has made a sharp U-turn on Covid-19 policy. Just a few months ago, Xi Jinping had said firmly that the government will not be walking away from the zero-tolerance policy. This led to nationwide protests, reportedly the largest, since Xi Jinping took over the reins of the country in 2012.
Now, starting January 8, 2023, Covid-19 will be downgraded as a disease and all measures related to it will be eased.
The changes:
- No mandatory quarantine, even for those infected with Covid-19
- No quarantine for foreigners arriving in China if their health is normal
- No mandatory checks on close contacts
- High and low risk areas won't be designated
- Covid-19 testing will be completely voluntary
- Covid-19's official name changed from 'novel coronavirus pneumonia' to 'novel coronavirus infection'
- Covid-19 disease management to be downgraded from Category A to Category B, meaning fewer restrictions
- Foreign travellers will only require a negative RT-PCR test 48 hours prior to their flight to China
- The 'Five One' policy for flights will be removed. The policy allowed Chinese and foreign airlines to operate only one flight on one day of the week to and fro China
- China will also ease entry and exit of passengers via waterways and land ports
The changes to the Covid-19 name and downgrading of the category are significant, SCMP reported.
Though Covid-19 as a disease will continue being in Category A with the likes of bubonic plague and cholera, the treatment measures will be downgraded to Category B like that of HIV and viral hepatitis.
The latest changes to Covid-19 policy were reportedly announced by the National Health Commission of China late on Monday. On the other hand, reports say Beijing is likely to start distributing Pfizer's Covid drug Paxlovid to control the spread of infections.
As for the number of Covid cases in China, the daily case counts and deaths remain unknown as the Central government has stopped releasing Covid data and left it to local authorities. Beijing alone had reported 4,000 new infections on Friday. BBC citing a British health data firm Airfinity said that China is likely reporting over a million (10 lakh) cases and 5000 deaths a day.
Recently, a Hong Kong study claimed that China will witness one million Covid-19-related deaths.