China fully Reopens Borders: No Covid Test Report Needed
China reopens fully: No Covid test report needed
In January, the country had ended the quarantine requirements for its citizens travelling from abroad.
REOPENING fully for travellers after a three-year isolation that began with its borders closing in March 2020, China has announced that it will no longer require a negative Covid-19 test result for incoming travellers.
This comes into effect from August 30, according to a statement by the Chinese government. “Starting from August 30, 2023 IST, China-bound passengers will no longer be required to take Covid-19 nucleic acid tests or antigen tests, as well as declare the negative test results while filling the Exit/Entry Health Declaration Form before entering into China,” the embassy of China posted on X on Monday.
In January, the country had ended the quarantine requirements for its citizens travelling from abroad. In the past few months, China has also moved towards expanding the list of countries that Chinese people can travel to and also increased the number of international flights.
Before that, in December 2022, Beijing had ended its tough domestic ‘zero Covid’ policy after more than two years of stringent curbs that included full city lockdowns and lengthy quarantines for people who were infected.
While incoming travellers were required to isolate for weeks at government-designated hotels, residents would often be forcibly locked into their homes in attempts to stop the virus from spreading.
Earlier this year, as Beijing discontinued restrictions to contain the virus that had been imposed since the start of the pandemic, China witnessed a massive surge in Covid infection rate. As per reports, in January, some 37 million people in China may have been infected with COVID-19 in a matter of one week.