Beijing has announced to end the compulsory quarantines on arrival in the country from January 8. The news has led to a leap in online research for abroad flights.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
The Chinese authorities’ decision suddenly release their measures to combat COVID-19 arouses some concerns in the world as to the risk of the appearance of new variants of the virus. US officials said on Tuesday, December 27, that Washington was planning to impose entry restrictions on their territory from travelers from China.
“The international community is increasingly concerned about Covid-19’s current thrusts in China and the lack of transparent data, in particular data on viral genomic sequences, communicated by the RPC”, of anonymity these sources, Tuesday, December 27, in reference to the People’s Republic of China.
The United States “follows scientific data and advice from public health experts, consult their partners and plan to take similar measures (…) to protect the American people,” they added, citing concerns expressed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as measures adopted by Japan, India and Malaysia. Tokyo will thus restore the compulsory PCR tests for travelers from continental China on Friday.
Beijing acknowledged that it was “impossible” to follow the evolution of the epidemic and has even ceased since Sunday to publish daily data on the health situation. The official figures were increasingly criticized as their underestimation of cases of infection and deaths had become blatant.
lack of genomic data
But it is the lack of genomic data that raises the most fears abroad, making “increasingly difficult for public health officials to ensure that they will be able to identify Any new potential vary and to take rapid measures to reduce propagation, “said American officials.
The Chinese authorities have decided to end the compulsory quarantines on arrival in the country from January 8, the last vestige of the strict health policy of “zero covid” which has been isolating the country for almost three years.
For several weeks, the authorities have been showing signs going in this direction, but the outbreak of contamination since the abandonment of most of its health restrictions in early December made doubt about the sustainability of the reopening movement.
a “contagious” disease, but more a “pneumonia”
The Health Commission, which serves as a ministry, said on Monday that it no longer considered COVID-19 as “pneumonia” but as a “contagious” disease, which no longer justifies the quarantines. As of next month, only a negative test of less than 48 hours will be required to enter Chinese territory.
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The news has led to a leap in online research for abroad flights, state media reported. In the half hour following the announcement, the number of research for destinations outside of continental China has multiplied by 10 compared to last year, according to Trip.com, one of the travel reservations sites The most prominent. Macao, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand and South Korea appear at the list of the most popular destinations. The Tongcheng travel app reports for its part of 850 % of research on its platform.
The country’s borders still remain almost completely closed to foreign nationals since 2020. China has ceased for almost three years to deliver tourist visas. A measure led to continue.