China to lift Covid-19 quarantine rule for inbound travellers

Beijing : China will stop requiring inbound travellers to go into quarantine starting from January 8, the National Health Commission said on December 26, 2022, in a major step towards easing curbs on its borders, which have been largely shut since 2020.

China's management of Covid-19 will also be downgraded to the less strict Category B from the current top-level Category A, the health authority said in a statement.

Until January 8, strict requirements on inbound travellers had remained in place, including five days of mandatory quarantine at a government-supervised facility and three more of isolation at home.
That restriction and one on the number of passengers on international flights will be removed from January 8. 

Travellers entering China will still have to undergo PCR testing 48 hours before departure, however, the health authority said.
Arrangements for foreigners to come to China, such as for work and business will be improved and the necessary visas will also be facilitated, the authority said.

However, passenger entry and exit at sea and land ports will gradually resume, while the outbound travel of Chinese nationals will be restored "in an orderly manner", it added.

China is the last major country to move toward treating Covid as endemic. Its containment measures had slowed the USD 17 trillion economy to its lowest growth rate in nearly half a century, disrupting global supply chains and trade.