Despite spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations, Chinese scramble to make travel plans
Chinese people, cut off from the rest of the world for three years by COVID-19 curbs, flocked to travel sites on Tuesday ahead of borders reopening, even as rising infections strained the health system and further roiled the economy.
Beijing’s statistics, however, show no new COVID deaths reported for the six days through Sunday, fuelling doubts among health experts and residents about the government’s data. In a major step towards easing border curbs cheered by Asian stock markets on Tuesday, China will stop requiring inbound travellers to go into quarantine starting from Jan. 8, the National Health Commission said late on Monday.
China’s management of COVID will also be downgraded to the less strict Category B from the current top-level Category A from Jan. 8, the health authority said, as it has become less virulent. Nurses and doctors have been asked to work while sick and retired medical workers in rural communities were being rehired to help, according to state media. Some cities have been struggling to secure enough supplies of anti-fever drugs.
Many shops in Shanghai, Beijing and elsewhere have been forced to close in recent days with staff unable to come to work, while some factories have already sent many of their workers on leave for the late January Lunar New Year holidays.
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