Cross-provincial travel resumes; number of new Covid-19 cases drops further

Cross-provincial travel resumes; number of new Covid-19 cases drops further

A dozen Chinese provinces and regions are easing travel curbs ahead of the summer holiday, which is expected to boost the tourism market. Hubei, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Gansu provinces have resumed cross-provincial travel to promote the revival of the market. The number of trips booked has rocketed since the beginning of June, with the number of average daily orders exceeding those in the same period last year, Ctrip said. But some restrictions remain. Some counties are preventing travel groups from entering or leaving if an outbreak has occurred in the previous 14 days or cumulative local cases have exceeded 50. Under the circuit-breaker mechanism, cross-border trips are still suspended in Beijing and Shanghai.

In Beijing, authorities warned 70 companies, including a McDonald's restaurant, for failing to strictly carry out anti-epidemic measures. In the past week three new cases were found via mass testing in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, or Beijing E-Town. Health authorities in Hefei, Anhui province, announced a halt to regular mass testing. Previously, the city, with a population of nearly 10 million, had been testing every five days or weekly.

Beijing announced the resumption of on-site classes in primary and secondary schools, while Shanghai decided to resume dine-in service in some districts where no Covid-cases have been reported in the past week. Nonetheless, the cities' health authorities and experts warned that risks cannot be completely ruled out. At a news conferences on June 26, Beijing and Shanghai each reported two new Covid-19 infections.

After more than a month without infections in Shenzhen, the city has reported sporadic local cases in recent days and is now requesting residents to show a negative PCR test obtained within 48 hours when using public transport or entering public enclosed areas. Other cities in China have adjusted their PCR test cycle from three to five days, while others even suspended regular testing. China's nucleic acid testing capacity increased to 57 million tubes per day in May this year from 1.26 million tubes per day in March 2020, a 45-fold increase in one year. Shenzhen was one of the first major Chinese cities to adopt regular mass testing as part of the “new normal” in Covid-19 control after a mini outbreak in March, a practice that was later followed by Beijing and Hangzhou.

At least eight Chinese cities have reduced the centralized quarantine periods for international arrivals from 14 days to 10 or seven days, Chinese embassies have streamlined visa applications for foreigners, and certain cities have relaxed entry requirements for travelers from previously Covid-hit cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. Cities such as Beijing and Wuhan have shortened quarantine periods for international arrivals on a trial basis to seven days of centralized quarantine and another seven days of home quarantine. International arrivals are subject to 10 days of quarantine when they arrive in the cities of Chengdu (Sichuan province), Xiamen (Fujian province) and Ningbo (Zhejiang province). Several other cities, including Guangzhou, Qingdao, and Xian, still stick to the policy of 14 days of centralized quarantine for international arrivals.

Chinese embassies in many countries, including France, Nigeria and Indonesia, also streamlined visa application procedures for foreigners. Those who are coming to work in China and have been approved by relevant Chinese departments don't need to present a letter of invitation when applying for a work visa. Family members with foreign nationalities also are exempt from submitting letters of invitation from local authorities when coming to visit their relatives who work in China. The CDC expert said all those relaxations of policies are based on the fact that the incubation period of the Omicron variant is shorter and to lighten the burden of Covid-19 controls on society and people's lives.

The provincial government Liaoning province ordered the border city of Dandong to optimize local anti-epidemic work, avoid a one-size-fits-all approach and draconian policies. The order was the result of an incident in which an elderly man seeking medical care slapped a police officer who stopped him at a checkpoint because his QR code was yellow. Dandong has been under lockdown for about 60 days since April while the city recorded less than 10 confirmed cases in the last week.

Five officials from Zhengzhou, Henan province, were punished for abusing the health code system, after they switched the health codes of some clients of small rural banks to red, prohibiting them from traveling and withdrawing money. It was estimated that a total of 1,317 clients with savings in the rural banks had their health codes changed, including 446 that had red codes when they scanned the venue code in Zhengzhou, and another 871 who were not in Zhengzhou but received a red code when they scanned venue codes in Zhengzhou sent to them.

This overview is based on reports by the China Daily, Shanghai Daily, Global Times and South China Morning Post.