First batch of international travellers arrives in China after quarantine goes

Beijing, January 8

For the first time in three years, China on Sunday opened its borders and welcomed international travellers and returning residents without the need for them to go under quarantine, even as infections continue to surge after Beijing scrapped its stringent zero-Covid policy.

Factory workers clash with police

• Protesters clashed with police in central China during a demonstration by hundreds of people at a factory producing Covid antigen kits
• Online users said the protest was over wages and the layoff of several workers by the manufacturer, Zybio, in Chongqing
• Geolocation indictaed that some of videos were filmed at the company’s factory in Chongqing

The first flights under China’s new “no quarantine” rules for international travellers landed at the airports in Guangzhou and Shenzhen in southern Guangdong province on Sunday morning, the state-run CGTN TV reported.

Officials said 387 passengers were aboard two flights from Toronto and Singapore. On Sunday, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region also resumed cross-border travel with the Chinese mainland. Many other Chinese borders also saw cross-border travel.

At the Shanghai Pudong International Airport, a man surnamed Jiang, who was the first to complete the immigration procedures, told reporters, “It is very convenient all the way from exit hatch to border inspection and clearance.”

Last month, China announced it was lifting Covid-related restrictions that mandated international arrivals undergo nucleic acid tests and quarantine.

Inbound travellers only need to take a PCR test within 48 hours before departure, and they no longer need to apply for a health code from Chinese diplomatic and consular missions. The scrapping of the travel rules comes at a time when China is grappling with a spurt in Covid cases.

The Chinese government on Saturday ordered the release of people detained over a host of coronavirus-related incidents.

A government notice said that any property that had been seized should be released, while quarantine and control measures at the state borders will also no longer be criminalised.

There was no direct mention of whether the order is applicable to scores of people held during last month’s protests against the zero-Covid policy, some of which called for the end of President Xi Jinping’s continuation in power.