China on Friday announced an easing of several COVID-19 measures aimed at overseas travelers, including a reduction in the quarantine on arrival from ten to eight days.
The Asian country is the last major economy to maintain a strict coronavirus health policy, with borders that remain closed to most foreign nationals.
A government note, published on the internet by public television CCTV, also announced the end of the much-maligned “circuit breaker” mechanism.
Under this rule, international flights to China were canceled for one or two weeks in the event of discovery, on arrival, of a number deemed too high of infected passengers on board.
This announcement is a relief for many travellers, who until now had the fear of seeing their flights canceled at the last moment.
They were often forced to wait several weeks or even months outside of China before finding seats on a flight.
Another good news for travelers from abroad, Chinese or not: they will have to provide the result of a single PCR test carried out within 48 hours before boarding for China, compared to two so far.