Citizens have responded positively to the news that passport applications for international travel will reopen on 8 january. this comes after the government announced the removal of quarantine rules for travellers arriving in china and the lifting of the cap on daily flights. data from trip.com and enquiries on qunar’s website showed a ten-fold and seven-fold increase in searches and flight enquiries respectively.
Decision to open its borders was made on tuesday, with the national health commission declaring that covid would be downgraded to a class b infectious disease on 8 january. prior to the relaxation of travel rules, the sale of outbound group and package travel had been banned. the most popular destinations were macau, hong kong, japan, thailand and south korea.
Public protests against president xi jinping’s policy sparked resentment among the public, prompting the government to loosen covi restrictions across the country. unfortunately, this led to an increase in covid cases, with reports of hospitals being overwhelmed and a shortage of drugs. analysts have noted that xi’s initial push for zero-covid has put him in a difficult situation, as he must now take responsibility for the rising number of infections and hospital admissions. questions have also been raised over why the country was not better prepared.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-64102176?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA
