China, which has been largely shut off from the world since the pandemic began in late 2019, will stop requiring inbound travellers to quarantine from Jan 8. But it will still demand that arriving passengers get tested before they begin their journeys.
DOUBTS ON DATA
Meanwhile, World Health Organization officials met Chinese scientists on Tuesday amid concerns over the accuracy of China’s data on the spread and evolution of its outbreak.
The UN agency had invited the scientists to present detailed data on viral sequencing and to share data on hospitalizations, deaths and vaccinations.
The WHO would communicate later, probably at a Wednesday news briefing, its spokesperson said after the meeting. The spokesperson earlier said the agency expected a “detailed discussion” about circulating variants in China, and globally.
Last month, Reuters reported that the WHO had not received data from China on new COVID-19 hospitalisations since Beijing’s policy shift, prompting some health experts to question whether it might be hiding information on the extent of its outbreak.
China reported five new COVID-19 deaths for Jan 3, compared with three a day earlier, bringing the official death toll to 5,258, very low by global standards.
But the death toll is widely believed to be much higher. British-based health data firm Airfinity has said about 9,000 people in China are probably dying each day from COVID-19.
There were chaotic scenes at Shanghai’s Zhongshan hospital where patients, many of them elderly, jostled for space on Tuesday in packed halls between makeshift beds where people used oxygen ventilators and got intravenous drips.
With COVID-19 disruptions slowing China’s US$17 trillion economy to its lowest growth in nearly half a century, investors are now hoping policymakers will intervene to counter the slide.
China’s yuan hovered at a four-month high against the dollar on Wednesday, after its finance minister pledged to step up fiscal expansion this year, days after the central bank said it would implement more policy support for the economy.
TRAVEL INTEREST
Despite some countries imposing restrictions on Chinese visitors, interest in outbound travel from the world’s most populous country is cranking up, state media reported.
Bookings for international flights from China have risen by 145 per cent year-on-year in recent days, the government-run China Daily newspaper reported, citing data from travel booking platform Trip.com.
The number of international flights to and from China is still a fraction of pre-COVID-19 levels. The government has said it will increase flights and make it easier for people to travel abroad.
Thailand, a major destination for Chinese tourists, is expecting at least five million Chinese arrivals this year, its tourism authority said on Tuesday.
More than 11 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand in 2019, nearly a third of its total visitors.
But there are signs that an increase in travel from China could further spread the virus abroad.
Health authorities in South Korea, which began testing travellers from China for COVID-19 on Monday, said more than a fifth of test results so far were positive.
Authorities there were hunting on Wednesday for a Chinese national who tested positive but went missing while awaiting quarantine. The person, who was not identified, could face up to a year in prison or fines of 10 million won (US$7,840).
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