Zero-Covid policy dismantled as China ends its requirement for incoming travellers to quarantine
The arrivals area for international flights at the Capital International Airport in Beijing on January 8th, 2023. Photograph: Noel Celis/AFP/Getty ImagesTravellers streamed into China by air, land and sea on Sunday, many eager for long-awaited reunions, as Beijing opened borders that have been all but shut since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“My parents are not in good health and I couldn't go back to see them even when they had colon cancer, so I'm really happy to go back and see them now,” she said. Some 2 billion trips are expected this season, nearly double last year’s movement and recovering to 70 per cent of 2019 levels, the government says.
At the Beijing Capital International Airport, families and friends exchanged emotional hugs and greetings with passengers arriving from places such as Hong Kong, Warsaw and Frankfurt, meetings impossible just a day earlier. China downgraded its Covid management to Category B from A, which had allowed local authorities to quarantine patients and their close contacts and lock down regions.
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