On Sunday, as Beijing restored borders that had been all but closed since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, travelers started pouring across land and sea crossings from Hong Kong to mainland China, many of whom were anxious for long-awaited reunions.
A final tenet of a zero-COVID policy that had protected China’s citizens against the virus but also isolated them from the rest of the world is being dismantled as the mainland opens its border with Hong Kong and no longer requires arriving travelers to undergo quarantine.
Following historic demonstrations against a policy that included frequent testing, restrictions on movement, and mass lockdowns that seriously harmed the second-largest economy, China has just loosened one of the strictest COVID systems in the world.
Investors are hopeful that the reopening will eventually revitalize the $17 trillion economy, which is now seeing its slowest growth in nearly 50 years. However, the rapid policy change has resulted in a large infection surge that is overwhelming certain hospitals and disrupting operations.
The border opened on Saturday, marking the beginning of “chun yun,” the first 40 days of travel for the Lunar New Year, which, before the pandemic, was the largest yearly movement of people traveling back to their hometowns to spend time with relatives. According to the government, there will be 2 billion travelers this season, almost twice as many as in 2018 and back to levels that were seen in 2019.
Many Chinese are also anticipated to start traveling abroad, which will be a long-awaited change for tourist destinations in nations like Thailand and Indonesia. However, several governments are putting restrictions on Chinese travelers as a result of concerns over the country’s rising COVID rates.
Because of things like a lack of international flights, analysts believe that travel will not rapidly recover to pre-pandemic levels.
On Sunday, China started granting passports, regular visas, and residence permits to foreigners as well as citizens of the mainland. The number of persons who can travel between Hong Kong and China each day is capped by Beijing.
Videos shared on Chinese social media showed workers at Shanghai’s Pudong airport overnight removing bright blue signs indicating paths through its international terminal to implement a policy that required visitors from other countries to undergo up to eight days of quarantine upon arrival.
In other videos, families reunited at the airport gate were seen giving each other heartfelt hugs.
