China slashes quarantine time for overseas travelers by half

• Published date: 28 June 2022
• Publication title: Shanghai Daily

China yesterday slashed the quarantine time for inbound travelers by half in a major easing of one of the world's strictest COVID-19 curbs, which have deterred travel in and out of the country since 2020.

Quarantine at centralized facilities has been cut to seven days from 14, and subsequent at-home health monitoring has been reduced to three days from seven, the National Health Commission said.

The latest guidelines from the health authority also eased quarantine requirements for close contacts of people who have tested positive for the new coronavirus.

ccording to the protocol released yesterday, individuals deemed to have had close contact with COVID-19 close contacts will face seven days of medical observation under home quarantine, instead of seven days of medical observation in isolation at designated sites.

Cheng Youquan, deputy director of the NHC's supervision bureau, also asked regions that impose tough quarantine measures on people from pandemic-stricken cities such as Shanghai to adjust their policies at yesterday's press conference organized by the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council.

China closed off its international borders in March 2020 and the number of international flights is still tightly restricted in an effort to tamp down "imported" virus cases as the pandemic rages elsewhere.

Since then overseas arrivals have faced weeks of strict monitoring and quarantine in hotels and designated centers.

China has cautiously eased its COVID curbs on cross-border travelers in recent months, with health officials saying the shorter incubation period of the Omicron variant allows for an adjustment of quarantine periods.

Since April, a growing number of "pilot" cities have already slashed mandatory centralized quarantine for overseas travelers to 10 days, with Beijing reducing quarantine as well last month.

However, scarce international flights are frequently subject to cancelations, as China operates a "circuit breaker" system where routes are temporarily...