China to lift COVID-19 test requirement for incoming travelers, eases strict restrictions

livemint.com:

China is set to lift the requirement for incoming travelers to provide a negative COVID-19 test result starting Wednesday. This move marks a significant milestone in the country's efforts to ease the stringent virus-related restrictions that have been in place since early 2020. The announcement was made by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin during a briefing on Monday.

China's previous "zero-COVID" policy, which included strict lockdowns and mandatory quarantines for infected individuals, was only abandoned in December. These measures had impacted the economy and led to some social disruptions. Earlier this year, China witnessed a massive surge in Covid infection rate.

As per reports, in January, some 37 million people in China may have been infected with COVID-19 in a matter of one week. This occurred as Beijing discontinued restrictions that had contained the virus since the start of the pandemic. Financial Times reported, Chinese officials estimate about 250 million people were infected with Covid-19 in the first 20 days of December.

British-based health data firm Airfinity, estimated that the infections in China are likely to be more than one million a day with deaths at more than 5,000 a day. New modelling by Airfinity has examined data from China's regional provinces. The current outbreak is growing more rapidly in some regions than in others.

Cases are currently rising much more quickly in Beijing and Guangdong. "Using the trends in regional data our team of epidemiologists has forecast the first peak to be in regions where cases are currently rising and a second peak driven by later surges in other Chinese provinces," Airfinity said in a statement. (With agency inputs)