China starts a new phase in the fight against Kovid, says ‘life is moving forward’

Sunday’s reopening is one of the final steps in China ending its “zero-Covid” regime, which began last month after historic protests that kept the virus at bay for three years but caused widespread mental distress. Suffering and causing serious harm to the other of the world. Largest economy.

While Beijing’s move to skip the quarantine is also expected to boost outbound travel, many countries are demanding negative tests from visitors to China, which is trying to contain the outbreak that has overwhelmed China’s many hospitals and cremation grounds. is demanding.

“Life is moving again!” the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, wrote in an editorial late on Sunday praising the government’s virus policies, saying that “preventing the infection” would lead to a “serious towards preventing disease”.

“Today, the virus is weak, we are strong.”

China’s state Xinhua news agency said the country has entered a “new phase” of its COVID response, citing its virus prevention experience, the evolution of the pandemic and the increase in vaccination levels.

China’s top health officials and state media have repeatedly said covid Infections have peaked across the country and they are downplaying the threat posed by the disease.

This is in contrast to an earlier regime of strict quarantine and lockdown as China managed the virus as a “category A” disease like bubonic plague and cholera. China’s handling of COVID was technically downgraded to “Category B” on Sunday, although many restrictions have been in place for weeks.

Officially, China has reported just 5,272 COVID-related deaths as of January 8, one of the lowest rates of death from the infection in the world.

But the World Health Organization has said China is underreporting the scale of the outbreak and international health experts estimate that more than one million people could die from the disease in the country this year.

Brushing off those gloomy forecasts, investors are betting that China’s reopening will help revive the $17 trillion economy and strengthen the global growth outlook.

Those hopes lifted Asian shares to near five-month highs on Monday, while China’s yuan rose to its strongest level against the dollar since mid-August. Chinese blue chips added 0.4%, while Hong Kong shares climbed 1.4%.

great relief

Copy editor Michael Harrold, 61, said, “It’s a huge relief to be able to go back to normal… just come back to China, get off the plane, get yourself a taxi and just go home.” Beijing told Reuters at Beijing Capital International airport He arrived here by flight on Sunday warsaw,

Harold said when he left for Europe for the Christmas break in early December, he was expected to quarantine and undergo several rounds of testing upon his return.

State broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday that direct flights from South Korea to China were close to selling out. The report became the most read piece of content on the Chinese social media site Weibo.

However, increasing demand from South Koreans, Who? make up the largest number of foreign residents in ChinaAlso others, limited number of flights to and from will be disrupted Chinawhich are currently at a small fraction of pre-COVID levels.

Korean Air said earlier this month it was pausing plans to increase flights to China because of Seoul’s wary attitude toward Chinese travelers. South Korea, like many other countries, now needs travelers from China, Macau And hong kong To provide negative COVID test result prior to departure.

Flight Master data showed that there were a total of 245 international flights in China on Sunday, representing a 91% drop in inbound and outbound combined compared to 2,546 flights on the same day in 2019.

China’s domestic tourism revenue is expected to recover to 70-75% of pre-COVID levels in 2023, but the number of inbound and outbound visits is only 30-40% of pre-COVID levels this year is expected to recover by 2020, China News reported on Sunday. ($1 = 6.7955 Chinese Yuan Renminbi)