China will reopen its borders on January 8 and eliminate entry quarantines

• China Pandemic Takes Steps Toward End of Covid Zero

• Asia Unchecked first wave of Covid in China threatens anti-vaccine grandparents

Outside

, almost daily PCR tests, health codes and restrictions to travel between provinces.

Advance plans for a wave of social protests in various corners, the Chinese government chose the month of December to hand down the death sentence to a zero Covid policy that had transformed the Asian giant into

.

But the final blow was still missing: the

in a country that has had all its doors hermetically sealed and controlled since March 28, 2020.

As of January 8, that too will change.

China's National Health Commission announced on Monday that the country's entry quarantines for travelers will end and that

will be facilitated again , especially for

,

and for

.

All this, in turn, will trigger the demand for flights to the Asian country and international airlines will be able to fly regularly without the restrictions of the last three years, which will deflate the

.

Tactically, the justification for extending the border closures for all this time was that Covid was classified as a category A infectious disease, along with, for example, the bubonic plague.

Under this category, according to Chinese laws, local authorities must follow a strict quarantine protocol upon arrival in the country, and they have all the power to decree the isolation of infected people and their close contacts, as well as the closure of entire cities to contain the spread of disease.

uncontrolled first wave

But the Chinese Wise Men will arrive in Beijing, a little late and with the roscón already hard, to lower the Covid to category B, which no longer necessarily requires those long quarantines in hotels paid for by travelers, as well as definitively confirming that The government will not resume old draconian customs of mass closures despite the fact that the first great wave of uncontrolled infections shakes the entire country and will continue to do so, according to experts, until the situation stabilizes in the spring.

During this Christmas, those few who can enter China - nationals and foreigners with residence permits, above all - still have to comply with five days of mandatory quarantine in a hotel and three more days of self-isolation at home.

That will end on January 8, although the requirement of

that must be carried out no more than 48 hours before departure remains.

The health authorities have also promised to "

."

Something that many Chinese celebrate considering that, for much of the pandemic, it was prohibited to issue new passports to prevent nationals from leaving their land.

Good news amid a bleak winter of infections in the world's most populous country.

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