Rumors about the possibility of the “opening” of China, which appeared even before the arrival of 2023, have been confirmed: since January 8, its authorities have begun to cancel restrictions on crossing borders that have been in effect for the past three years.
It is worth reminding: it was from China in December 2019 that a wave of coronavirus infections spread around the world. And since the beginning of 2020, the country has followed a policy of “zero tolerance” to COVID-19: its multi-million cities easily found themselves in lockdown mode. According to the Worldometers portal, which specializes in statistical data on the most important world events, during the entire time of the pandemic, approximately 482 thousand cases of coronavirus and 5.2 thousand fatal consequences of infection were diagnosed in China.
Mandatory quarantine for those who came into contact with infected people, as well as mass vaccination, eventually worked, but the Chinese economy recently showed the slowest growth rate in almost fifty years. In connection with this, in December 2022, the Celestial authorities canceled a number of restrictions adopted to curb the spread of the virus, which caused a sharp jump in the number of diseases and cases of death. And although many countries in the world (USA, India, Japan, Australia, etc.) announced the introduction of some restrictive measures against Chinese citizens against the backdrop of the COVID-19 wave (in particular, they decided to require all negative tests arriving from the PRC). on covid), the Chinese authorities did not give up on the idea of opening the borders.
The lifting of many travel restrictions comes after China’s annual 40-day Lunar New Year travel period, which this time falls on January 22, 2023, began the day before. At this time, China is experiencing the world’s largest annual migration of the population, who leave their native places or travel around the country with relatives.
However, so far this is done with significant nuances. So, since January 8, those arriving in the Celestial Empire do not need to go to quarantine after arriving in the country. However, 48 hours before arrival, they must receive a negative result of the test for COVID-19 and present it to the PRC. Mainland Chinese residents can once again receive foreign passports and tourist visas, and foreigners have begun to be issued visas and temporary residence permits for foreigners.
