China ends quarantine for overseas travellers amid COVID surge

China has lifted quarantine requirements for inbound travellers. ending almost three years of self-imposed isolation even as the country battles a surge in COVID -19 cases. From Sunday onwards, inbound travellers to China will no longer be required to quarantine. Beijing last month began a dramatic dismantling of a hardline virus strategy that had enforced mandatory quarantines and gruelling lockdowns. The containment policy has tanked China's economy and sparked nationwide protests. 

The country will further resume issuing visas for residents to travel overseas with China’s immigration authorities saying that they will start receiving applications for issuing passports for tourism and visits abroad. Travellers crossing between Hong Kong and mainland China must nevertheless present a COVID-19 test result taken within the last 48 hours. According to the new policies released on the official website of the CAAC, China will stop designating inbound high-risk flights and call an end to the 75% restriction for passenger capacity on inbound flights. Immigration authorities will start issuing permits for mainlanders to travel to Hong Kong and Macau "according to the epidemic situation and service capacities", the city has said.

Since March 2020, all arrivals had been forced to undergo isolation at centralised government facilities. This decreased from three weeks to one week this summer, and to five days in November. The outbreak is forecast to worsen as China enters the Lunar New Year holiday this month, during which millions are expected to travel from hard-hit megacities to the countryside to visit vulnerable older relatives. In China's southern semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong, Sunday will also see a major relaxation of stringent cross-border travel restrictions with the Chinese mainland.