China opens borders after 3 years – several 10,000 Hong Kongers want to go to People’s Republic of Iran protests: two more protesters executed

Most entry restrictions, and especially the mandatory one-week quarantine on arrival that was recently mandatory, have been lifted with effect from Sunday. However, according to the authorities, the opening must take place in an “orderly manner”, so that the number of entries and exits or the issuance of visas is limited.

Residents of the Chinese Special Administrative Region are provisionally subject to a quota of 50,000 entries per day, for which visitors must register via an online platform. Demand for China’s long isolation has been high: 410,000 Hong Kongers have already signed up, the “South China Morning Post” newspaper reports. In the reverse direction, a limited number of 6,600 travelers from China were able to cross the border with Hong Kong on Sunday. Travelers must be able to show negative PCR tests from the past 48 hours.

The opening follows China’s abrupt change of course in early December from a zero-tolerance policy of lockdowns, mass testing and enforced quarantine, which it has been pursuing since 2020, to full easing. Since then, a massive wave of infections has swept through the world’s most populous country, hitting hospitals completely unprepared. Due to the overload of the health system in China and fear of new virus variants, the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs (AA) in Berlin also advises against “unnecessary” travel to the People’s Republic.

According to estimates by London-based data processor Airfinity, 2.5 million people are currently re-infected every day in China, while 16,600 die every day. In mid-January, the number of new infections per day could reach 3.7 million. According to these estimates, 209,000 people have already died. According to forecasts, the number of corona deaths could rise to 1.7 million by the end of April, Airfinity warned. China itself no longer publishes current figures on the contamination situation, which led to international criticism of the lack of transparency.

Experts say it will take months after borders open for travel to return to normal. Even the unchanged low number of international flights from China limits the number of travelers. Out of concern about possible new virus variants from China, Germany and many other countries also require travelers from the People’s Republic to have a negative corona test before departure, which may not be older than 48 hours.

Travel options are also limited. The number of flights from China to foreign countries is currently only about ten percent of its pre-pandemic volume. The tickets are expensive. Tourists should also take a back seat: the Chinese authorities now want to issue or renew passports again, but primarily only for business and study trips. Conversely, the Chinese embassies want to issue more visas again. But here too, company, work or study visits and family visits have priority. A negative PCR test must be presented before entering China.

However, travelers should also be aware that further waves of infections are expected in China ahead of the Chinese New Year celebrations on January 22. Hundreds of millions of Chinese people traditionally travel to their native villages and visit relatives for the main Chinese family celebration. During the 40-day travel period starting this weekend, travel volume is estimated to be around 70 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Experts fear that the virus will spread from the metropolises now affected to the – even less prepared – provinces in the interior and the countryside. Rural China is home to a particularly large number of old people, who are often not sufficiently protected by vaccinations. In addition, medical care is inadequate in many places. (sda/dpa)