Image source: China Visual

BEIJING, December 26 (TMTPOST) -- China will reopen its borders and scrap time-consuming and expensive quarantine requirements upon its downgrade of Covid-19 to a less severe infectious disease category on January 8.

For nearly three years, China suspended issuing tourist, work or study visas to almost all foreigners, shutting down its borders in an effort to prevent the inflow of the novel coronavirus into the world's most populous country. The number of flights from and to China was a tiny fraction of that figure prior to early 2020, when the pandemic first swept the entire world.

On Tuesday, the National Health Commission issued a document, saying that it will downgrade Covid-19 from a Category-A infectious disease to a Category-B infectious disease on January 8, which means additional entry and quarantine requirements would be no longer be necessary. 

The digital international travel health code will be scrapped too. Chinese citizens have to get two to five negative nulceic acid test results in order to board a homebound flight. If applciation materials meet the constantly changing standards, Chinese diplomats would review them and grant an applciant a green code on their smartphone, which is a green light for a journey home. If a red code or a yellow code is issued, the applicant would not be allowed to depart for China.

Some Chinese nationals missed the flight because their tests were not within a certain time frame, e.g. a 24-hour or 48-hour or 7-day limit, if they have a transfer or a few transfers. Chinese nationals in a remote town sometimes did not have timely access to a designated clinic, typically located in big cities like New York City, Chicago or Toronto. Some Chinese students were even stranded in some European airports as there are no qualified clinics to give them tests.  

With the termination of the international travel health code, airline crew, rather than Chinese diplomats, would check the suitability of a traveller to China. Travellers to China still need to produce a 48-hour negative nucleic acid test result before boarding a plane to any city in China.