SHANGHAI/BEIJING: More and more countries around the world are requiring Chinese visitors to take Covid tests, days before it removes border controls and ushers in a long-awaited return to travel for a population that is in much of it stuck at home for three years.
From Sunday, China will end the requirement for incoming travelers to self-quarantine, the latest dismantling of its “zero-Covid” regime that began last month following historic protests against a stifling series mass locks.
But the abrupt changes have exposed much of China’s 1.4 billion people to the virus for the first time, triggering a wave of infection that is overwhelming some hospitals, emptying drugstore shelves of drugs and sparking international alarm. .
Greece, Germany and Sweden joined more than a dozen countries on Thursday in demanding Covid tests from Chinese travelers, as the World Health Organization said official data on the virus in China is understated. estimated the true extent of its epidemic.
Chinese officials and state media have taken a defiant tone, defending the handling of the outbreak, downplaying the severity of the outbreak and denouncing overseas travel requirements for its residents.
“No matter how China decides to deal with the Covid-19 outbreaksome Western media and some Western politicians will never be satisfied,” wrote the Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, in an editorial late Thursday.
The global aviation industry, battered by years of battling the pandemic, has also criticized decisions to impose testing on travelers from China. China will still require pre-departure testing for inbound travelers after Jan. 8.
Some Chinese citizens believe the reopening was too rushed.
“They should have taken a series of steps before opening … and at the very least ensured the pharmacies were well stocked,” a 70-year-old man who gave his last name told Reuters. Zhao in Shanghai.
China reported five new Covid deaths on the mainland on Thursday, bringing its official virus death toll to 5,264, one of the lowest in the world.
But that is at odds with the reality on the ground where funeral homes are overwhelmed and hospitals are full of elderly patients on ventilators. In Shanghai, more than 200 taxi drivers are driving ambulances to meet the demand for emergency services, the Shanghai Morning Post reported.
International health experts believe Beijing’s narrow definition of Covid deaths does not reflect a true toll that could reach more than a million deaths this year.
Investors are optimistic that China’s reopening can eventually reinvigorate a $17 trillion economy that is seeing its weakest growth in nearly half a century.
Those hopes, along with policy measures to help revive its struggling real estate sector, lifted the Chinese yuan on Friday.
Meanwhile, China’s blue-chip CSI300 index and Shanghai Composite index gained more than 2% in the first trading week of the year.
“While reopening is likely to be a bumpy affair amid rising Covid-19 cases and increasingly strained healthcare systems, our economists expect growth momentum in Asia to pick up. , led by China,” Herald van der Linde, HSBC Strategy’s Head of Equity, Asia-Pacific, said in a note.
OPEN SOUTH-EAST ASIA
With the major Lunar New Year holiday at the end of this month, the mainland is also expected to open the border with its Hong Kong special administrative region on Sunday for the first time in three years.
Ferry services between the city and Macau Gaming Center will resume on the same day.
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways said on Thursday it would more than double its flights to mainland China. Flights to and from China remain at a tiny fraction of pre-Covid levels.
The WHO has warned that the holidays, which begin on January 21 and usually bring the largest human migration on the planet as people return home from cities to visit families in smaller towns and villages, could spark a another wave of infection in the absence of higher vaccination. tariffs and other precautions.
Authorities expect 2.1 billion passenger trips, by road, rail, water and air, during the holidays, double last year’s 1.05 billion trips during the same period.
The Department for Transport has urged people to exercise caution to minimize the risk of infection for elderly parents, pregnant women and infants.
Southeast Asia is one of the regions poised to be a major beneficiary of China’s opening up, where countries have not required Chinese visitors to take COVID tests.
With the exception of airline sewage testing by Malaysia and Thailand for the virus, the 11 countries in the region will treat Chinese travelers like all others.
According to a recent survey by ITB China, up to 76% of Chinese travel agencies ranked Southeast Asia as the top destination when resuming outbound travel.
Many people in China have taken to social media to announce their travel plans, but some remain wary.
“You want to see the world, but the world may not want to see you,” warned a WeChat user from Tianjin city.
From Sunday, China will end the requirement for incoming travelers to self-quarantine, the latest dismantling of its “zero-Covid” regime that began last month following historic protests against a stifling series mass locks.
But the abrupt changes have exposed much of China’s 1.4 billion people to the virus for the first time, triggering a wave of infection that is overwhelming some hospitals, emptying drugstore shelves of drugs and sparking international alarm. .
Greece, Germany and Sweden joined more than a dozen countries on Thursday in demanding Covid tests from Chinese travelers, as the World Health Organization said official data on the virus in China is understated. estimated the true extent of its epidemic.
Chinese officials and state media have taken a defiant tone, defending the handling of the outbreak, downplaying the severity of the outbreak and denouncing overseas travel requirements for its residents.
“No matter how China decides to deal with the Covid-19 outbreaksome Western media and some Western politicians will never be satisfied,” wrote the Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, in an editorial late Thursday.
The global aviation industry, battered by years of battling the pandemic, has also criticized decisions to impose testing on travelers from China. China will still require pre-departure testing for inbound travelers after Jan. 8.
Some Chinese citizens believe the reopening was too rushed.
“They should have taken a series of steps before opening … and at the very least ensured the pharmacies were well stocked,” a 70-year-old man who gave his last name told Reuters. Zhao in Shanghai.
China reported five new Covid deaths on the mainland on Thursday, bringing its official virus death toll to 5,264, one of the lowest in the world.
But that is at odds with the reality on the ground where funeral homes are overwhelmed and hospitals are full of elderly patients on ventilators. In Shanghai, more than 200 taxi drivers are driving ambulances to meet the demand for emergency services, the Shanghai Morning Post reported.
International health experts believe Beijing’s narrow definition of Covid deaths does not reflect a true toll that could reach more than a million deaths this year.
Investors are optimistic that China’s reopening can eventually reinvigorate a $17 trillion economy that is seeing its weakest growth in nearly half a century.
Those hopes, along with policy measures to help revive its struggling real estate sector, lifted the Chinese yuan on Friday.
Meanwhile, China’s blue-chip CSI300 index and Shanghai Composite index gained more than 2% in the first trading week of the year.
“While reopening is likely to be a bumpy affair amid rising Covid-19 cases and increasingly strained healthcare systems, our economists expect growth momentum in Asia to pick up. , led by China,” Herald van der Linde, HSBC Strategy’s Head of Equity, Asia-Pacific, said in a note.
OPEN SOUTH-EAST ASIA
With the major Lunar New Year holiday at the end of this month, the mainland is also expected to open the border with its Hong Kong special administrative region on Sunday for the first time in three years.
Ferry services between the city and Macau Gaming Center will resume on the same day.
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways said on Thursday it would more than double its flights to mainland China. Flights to and from China remain at a tiny fraction of pre-Covid levels.
The WHO has warned that the holidays, which begin on January 21 and usually bring the largest human migration on the planet as people return home from cities to visit families in smaller towns and villages, could spark a another wave of infection in the absence of higher vaccination. tariffs and other precautions.
Authorities expect 2.1 billion passenger trips, by road, rail, water and air, during the holidays, double last year’s 1.05 billion trips during the same period.
The Department for Transport has urged people to exercise caution to minimize the risk of infection for elderly parents, pregnant women and infants.
Southeast Asia is one of the regions poised to be a major beneficiary of China’s opening up, where countries have not required Chinese visitors to take COVID tests.
With the exception of airline sewage testing by Malaysia and Thailand for the virus, the 11 countries in the region will treat Chinese travelers like all others.
According to a recent survey by ITB China, up to 76% of Chinese travel agencies ranked Southeast Asia as the top destination when resuming outbound travel.
Many people in China have taken to social media to announce their travel plans, but some remain wary.
“You want to see the world, but the world may not want to see you,” warned a WeChat user from Tianjin city.
