China has reopened today to the rest of the world after almost three years of border closures by officially downgrading the covid category from level A to B and thus effectively marking the end of the zero covid policy, in a moment in which the wave of infections has reached its peak in large cities such as Beijing.
This change, from the level of maximum danger and for whose containment the most severe measures are required to one that contemplates a more lax control, allows travelers entering the Asian giant from this Sunday to do so without the mandatory quarantine imposed since March of 2020.
This new situation occurs just one day after the beginning of the 40-day period known in Chinese as chunyun, the largest annual migration in the world, which takes place every year during the Lunar New Year, which in 2023 will fall between the 21st and the January 27, and is expected to bring tens of thousands of overseas Chinese citizens back to the country.
The first flight that took advantage of the paradigm shift was the CZ312 that linked the Canadian city of Toronto with Canton (south). The China Southern Airlines plane had a delay of 3 hours and 26 minutes with respect to its scheduled arrival time, which made it land in the Chinese city at 00:16 local time on Sunday (16:16 GMT on Saturday) according to the Flightaware air traffic portal.
This delay allowed its passengers to be the first to officially experience the new measures implemented and enjoy an entry to the Asian giant without quarantine. In Beijing, the flight that landed at 03:58 local time (19:58 GMT on Saturday) was the first to arrive at the Beijing Capital International Airport at Terminal 3, which reopened section 3-E to cope with all flights. scheduled for today.
As of March 10, 2020, passengers arriving in Beijing were required to enter the airport's Terminal 3-D before undergoing a mandatory multi-day quarantine at a designated hotel.
Not only those who arrive in the country by air benefit from the paradigm shift in China's anti-pandemic policy. The land border posts have also witnessed today the flow of people who have taken advantage of the end of the quarantines to enter the Asian giant.
At the Hekou checkpoint, which connects China with Vietnam, the border sees a return to commercial activity and many people brought flowers to the place to hug family and friends for the first time since 2020, the official newspaper Global reported. Times. Some crosses brought flowers to personally greet and hug their family and friends on the other side for the first time since 2020 when the port closed due to covid.
In Erenhot (north), a Chinese city located in the Gobi Desert and bordering Mongolia, the first group of citizens passed through the largest land checkpoint between the two countries after 1,016 days since the strict zero-covid policy was implemented. Likewise, tens of thousands of Hong Kongers took advantage of the reopening of borders to enter China this Sunday through the different methods at their disposal, whether by sea, land or air.
All within the classification reduction for the covid, which ceased to be a category A disease to become a category B disease as of today, as announced by the Chinese National Health Commission last December.
The change of category covers measures such as voluntary PCR tests in the national territory, classified diagnoses and treatment of the disease according to its severity. In addition, covid will be withdrawn from the management of infectious diseases that require quarantine in accordance with the legislation of the Asian country.
