Beijing, Europe Brief News – China has finally decided to remove its most stringent travel restriction measures.
Starting from January 8, 2023, China will no longer conduct nucleic acid tests and centralized quarantine for all inbound travelers, and measures to control the number of international passenger flights will be lifted, among others.
The Chinese government claims it has the pandemic under control, and it is ready to allow its citizens to travel abroad while letting foreigners come in next month.
Official statistics, however, showed only one COVID death in the past seven days through Monday, fuelling doubts among health experts and residents about the government’s data. The numbers are inconsistent with the experience of much less populous countries after they re-opened.
250 million Covid-19 infections were reported in the first 20 days of December.
The estimate would account for roughly 18% of China’s 1.4 billion people and represent the largest Covid-19 outbreak to date globally.
Among the estimates was the revelation that on Tuesday alone, 37 million people were newly infected with Covid-19 across China. That stood in dramatic contrast to the official number of 3,049 new infections reported that day.
Officially, China reported only eight Covid deaths this month – a strikingly low figure given the rapid spread of the virus and the relatively low vaccine booster rates among the vulnerable elderly.
