Searches for international flights multiplied by seven on online travel platforms such as Qunar after the Chinese authorities announced this Monday that they will withdraw on January 8 the requirement of quarantines at entry to the country that had been in force since March 2020.
The National Health Commission declared that covid will cease to be a category A disease, the level of maximum danger and for whose containment the most severe measures are required, to become a category B, which contemplates more lax control.
In November, China had announced a reduction in mandatory quarantines upon arrival in the country to five days of isolation in a designated hotel plus another three at home, a considerable reduction from the 21 or even 28 days that many cities once required. in some periods of 2022.
The agency also notified that the limits on international air traffic in China will be withdrawn, which for two years has been restricted to less than 5% of what it was before the pandemic.
These measures caused an increase in searches for international flights in Chinese travel agencies, with Japan, South Korea or Thailand as the most popular destinations.
Searches on the Qunar online platform multiplied by seven 15 minutes after the official notification, reported the agency, one of the most popular in the country.
However, the restart of operational air routes before the pandemic will take time after almost three years of severe restrictions.
Airlines such as Qatar Airways, KLM or Air France announced in recent days that they will expand the frequency of flights to and from Chinese cities such as Hangzhou (east), Shanghai (east), Tianjin (northeast) or Chengdu (center), the local newspaper reported. Global Times.
The Chinese aviation industry has been one of the most affected by the pandemic: local media reported that the eight listed Chinese airlines jointly registered losses of 106,000 million yuan (14,582 million dollars, 14,647 million euros) until September .
Chinese netizens welcomed the imminent lifting of lockdowns after a period in which the Chinese government had limited the issuance of new passports to Chinese citizens for travel not considered “essential.”
“I can finally go out and see the world,” exclaimed one user, although there are many who fear that “new variants of coronavirus will enter the country” once the quarantines disappear.
The adjustments to the country’s entry policies bring joy to many overseas Chinese who had postponed their trips to China to visit family due to high ticket prices and cumbersome return process.
A user of the Weibo social network residing in the United States welcomed the withdrawal of quarantines and expressed his hope of “returning home to spend the holidays”, referring to the Lunar New Year that will fall in mid-January in 2023.
Since the country relaxed its zero covid policy a few weeks ago and the coronavirus spread among the population, many voices had questioned the usefulness of quarantines for international travelers.
The Chinese government assured earlier this month that the “conditions” were in place for the country to adjust its measures in the face of a “new situation” in which the virus causes fewer deaths.
The official press also began a few weeks ago to minimize the risk of the omicron variant through numerous articles and interviews with experts, a turn of argument that accompanied the relaxation of some of the most severe restrictions.
The changes came after the weariness of the restrictions crystallized in protests in various parts of the country after the death of ten people in an apparently confined building in Urumqi (northwest), with slogans such as “I don’t want PCR, I want to eat” or “give me back my freedom”.