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Beijing — Companies welcomed China’s decision as a necessary step to end quarantines for travelers from overseas, as Japan announced restrictions on visitors to the country as infections continued to rise.
The ruling Communist Party’s sudden decision to lift some of the world’s strictest anti-virus controls comes as it tries to reverse an economic downturn. It ended the lockdown that forced millions of people home and sparked protests, but as the virus spread, hospitals were flooded with fever and respiratory patients.
Monday’s announcement that the detention of foreign travelers will end on Jan. 8 has been reduced from seven days last month to five, the biggest move to end restrictions that have kept many foreign visitors out of China since early 2020.
Also on Monday, the government downgraded the official severity of Covid-19 and dropped requirements to allow people with the virus to be quarantined. That adds to swift steps to dismantle the controls, which are expected to remain in place until at least mid-2023.
Colm Rafferty, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said in a statement: “It seems that China has finally changed its course.” He said the quarantine was the “single biggest obstacle” to travel and that ending it would “clear the way for normal business travel to resume”.
Business groups have warned that companies are pulling investment out of China because foreign executives are banned from visiting.
The British Chamber of Commerce has expressed hope that China will resume regular business visas to “restart significant people-to-people exchanges”. This will “contribute to restoring optimism and making China a top investment destination,” he said.
Meanwhile, Japan said all visitors from China would undergo virus tests as a “temporary emergency measure” starting Friday in response to the country’s flood of infections.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that visitors who test positive will be quarantined for a week. Japan says it will scale back planned increase in number of flights between Japan and China “to be safe”
“There are growing concerns in Japan,” Kishida said.
A foreign ministry spokesman has defended China’s handling of recent outbreaks.
“The Chinese government always adheres to the principle of science-based and targeted measures,” Wang Wenbin said. It called for a “science-based response and integrated approach” to protect travel safety and “promote a stable and healthy recovery of the global economy.”
China has kept infection rates low with its “Zero COVID” strategy, which aims to contain the spread of the virus by isolating every case. That complaint controls were too extreme and ineffective.
Since last month, however, the ruling party has gradually joined the US and other governments in trying to live with the virus rather than impose blanket isolation on cities or towns.
The ruling party announced the changes on November 11, aimed at reducing disruptions after a slump in economic activity. It will be remembered that further changes were announced following the protests that broke out in Shanghai and other cities on November 25.
The government has stopped reporting national case numbers, but announcements in some cities suggest at least tens and possibly hundreds of millions of people have been infected since the crackdown began in early October.
The outbreak prompted Beijing to suddenly relax controls. Officials say the storm started before the change.
“The government should have done the job more carefully,” said Lu Haoming, a Beijing architect. Although the death rate of this disease is not as severe as the first, the initial shock is still very severe.
China only counts people who die of pneumonia or respiratory failure in its official COVID-19 toll, a health official said last week. That doesn’t include the many deaths caused by Covid-19 in other countries.
In the year Experts predict that 1 to 2 million people will die in China by the end of 2023.
The National Health Commission announced a campaign on November 29 to increase vaccination rates among Chinese people. Health experts say this is crucial to avoid health problems.
On Monday, the National Health Commission downgraded Covid-19 from a Class A infectious disease to a Class B disease and removed it from the list of diseases requiring isolation. Officials said they would stop monitoring close contacts and identifying areas at high or low risk of infection.
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AP writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed.
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