China eases quarantine rules for foreign travellers, flight bans in Covid Zero pivot
Travelers into China will now be required to spend five days in a hotel or government quarantine facility, followed by three days confined to home, according to a National Health Commission statement Friday.
By ET Online |
Reuters
China has cut the amount of time foreign travelers and close contacts of infected people must spend in quarantine, a significant calibration of the Covid Zero policy that has isolated the world’s second-largest economy and raised public ire.
Travelers into China will now be required to spend five days in a hotel or government quarantine facility, followed by three days confined to home, according to a National Health Commission statement Friday.
The current rules require 10 days quarantine in total, with a week in a hotel then three days at home.
The same shortened quarantine length will now also be applied to close contacts of infected people, minimizing the disruptive practice of contact-tracing that has seen millions thrown into centralized facilities when officials race to stamp out spread. Close contacts of close contacts will now no longer be identified, added the statement.
In a further boost to international travel, the controversial system penalizing airlines for bringing virus cases into the country will also be scrapped.
