China Opens Borders to World as Countries Secure their Points of Entry

Despite reports of massive surge in Covid infections driven by Omicron variant BF.7, the Chinese government has said it would downgrade its coronavirus threat levels in the coming weeks. 

Beijing has said it would stop checking arriving passengers for COVID-19 starting from January 8, 2023. After three years of Covid-induced lockdown, the Asian country is opening its doors to international travellers. 

As China opens its doors, several countries including India, Japan and Malaysia have stepped up rules for Chinese travellers. The United States Biden administration is also mulling stricter rules for travellers arriving in the country from China. This is due to concerns over Beijing's ‘lack of transparent data,’ Reuters reported. 

Malaysia has activated additional tracking and surveillance mechanisms for Chinese visitors while Japan has mandated a negative COVID-19 test upon arrival. 

“There are growing worries in Japan,” Prime Minister Fumio said on Tuesday.

Notably, on December 24, India made COVID negative tests mandatory for travellers arriving from these countries – China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore. 

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