Beijing, January 8，2023（AseanAll）Mainland reopened its borders today (January 8) after three years of restrictions that were implemented due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
China's National Health Commission（NHC） announced on Dec. 26,2022 that it is downgrading the coronavirus from a Class A infectious disease to Class B to further ease the measures in the country.
Covid-19 has changed from a "novel coronavirus pneumonia" to a "novel coronavirus infection," according to a statement by the NHC.
Also, China will not impose a quarantine on those entering the country and Covid-19 patients starting from Sunday(January 8，2023), in accordance with the Frontier Health and Quarantine Law of the People's Republic of China.
The world’s most populous nation also dumped its strict “zero-Covid” policy last month, following unrest and unprecedented protests in parts of the country.
However, the country faced a rising number of Covid-19 cases in the past weeks.
Several countries, including the US, the UK, Italy, Spain, France, Morocco, Qatar, Canada, Greece, Malaysia, Finland and the Netherlands, announced the requirement of negative Covid-19 test result for those arriving from China.
Meanwhile, Germany on Saturday（January 7，2023） advised against non-essential travel to China, classifying the country as a "threatening virus variant area" as of Monday, due to the current Covid-19 wave in China, the Foreign Office said.
China on Friday（January 6，2023） said the Covid-19 situation in the country is under control and that many EU member states welcome Chinese travelers.
In response to EU member states’ recommendations of restrictions on travelers from China, Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Mao Ning said the EU should listen to rational voices and view China’s epidemic in an objective manner.
"Recently many EU member states have said they welcome tourists from China and will not impose any restriction measures. Professional institutions including the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said clearly that restriction measures targeting travelers from China are unjustified. The EU should listen more to the rational voice, and view China’s COVID response situation in an objective and fair light."Mao Ning said.
Reacting to travel restrictions on Chinese citizens by several countries, the spokesperson said all countries’ response measures to Covid-19 should be based on science and facts, and be proportionate.
"China has repeatedly stressed that for all countries, COVID response measures need to be science-based and proportionate. They should not affect normal cross-border travel and people-to-people exchange and cooperation, there should not be discriminatory measures, and still less should measures be used for political manipulation.," Mao said.
She added that Chinese experts also attended an online briefing of the World Health Organization(WHO) members to provide a further update on the pandemic.
In addition, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and other ASEAN countries welcomed Chinese tourists and said they would not take restrictive measures.
