Without quarantine to China – but a barrier to entry remains the favorite dishes of the dictators – which Putin and co really crave

China has announced that it will end the quarantine obligation for travelers to the People’s Republic. As the Beijing Health Commission announced on Monday, the danger level of the coronavirus will be lowered from January 8. As a result, travelers no longer have to endure hotel quarantine after arrival, according to the announcement.

Recently, travelers were isolated in a hotel room for at least five days and closely monitored. Sometimes an entry quarantine of 21 days was even mandatory. According to the committee, travelers only need to submit a negative corona test before leaving for China.

Further tests after arrival should be omitted. Gradually, the Chinese would also be allowed to travel more internationally again. During the pandemic, the government had severely restricted travel abroad for its own compatriots.

Virus spreads fast

China announced an abrupt end to its zero-Covid policy on December 7 after nearly three years of lockdowns, mass testing and other strict measures. The lifting of the entry quarantine is now a further relaxation. The turnaround in corona policy was justified by the fact that infections with the new Omikron variants were no longer so difficult.

But experts saw the reason mainly in the fact that the strict measures could no longer be maintained in view of the explosive spread. The restrictions also increasingly weighed on the second-largest economy.

With the end of almost all measures, the virus is now spreading rapidly in China. According to officially unconfirmed internal estimates, 248 million people or 18 percent of the population were infected with Corona in the first three weeks of December alone. Hospitals are overcrowded and many crematoria can no longer cremate the corpses fast enough. According to expert forecasts, hundreds of thousands of deaths are expected. (sda/dpa)