Covid: China halves quarantine time for international travellers

BEIJING: China on Tuesday slashed the length of its mandatory quarantine for inbound international travellers by half reducing it to a week from 14 days - in the biggest change to its Covid-19 containment policy yet, signalling a gradual reopening of its borders.

Under the updated policy, international travellers will need to quarantine for seven days at a government-designated facility, usually a hotel, followed by another three days of isolation at home.

The country reported one locally transmitted and 21 asymptomatic Covid cases for Monday.

Tuesday’s announcement marks a huge change in China’s current stringent policies for international travellers but the curbs - overall 10 days of restrictions on movement – are still comparatively tough, especially in contrast with countries that have fully withdrawn quarantine and testing requirements.

China closed its borders at the end of March 2020, and since then has only allowed a handful international flights into the country, including special and chartered flights.

Flu outbreak

Meanwhile, a flu outbreak in southern China has led to a shortage of medicines with doctors warning of dual health risks from influenza and sporadic Covid-19 outbreaks, a state media report said on Monday.

Weakened herd immunity caused by continuous Covid-19 prevention measures,including lockdowns, may be partly to blame for the abnormal spike in influenza cases at this time of the year, experts said, according to a report in the Global Times.

Doctors and experts say it is worrying that influenza numbers are exceeding those seen in winter, which is usually when infections spread more quickly.

“Among the 507 influenza outbreak... in 17 provinces between April 4 and June 19, 503 were in southern China, a sharp increase from the 136 in 2021 in the same period,” the latest report by Chinese National Influenza Center (CNIC) said, according to the Global Times report. An influenza outbreak is defined as 10 or more cases.