China opened its borders, which closed due to the epidemic, after 3 years
Following the end of the quarantine obligation, the first international flights arrived at airports in mainland China this morning.
On the other hand, passenger and cargo crossings at 8 customs gates on China’s land borders with Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam in the north returned to normal.
The planes that arrived in the south of the country from Canada to the city of Guangcou in the morning, from Singapore to the city of Xinjiang and from New Zealand to Shanghai were the first flights to China after the lifting of the measures.
Guangcou Baiyun International Airport reportedly expects more than 2,000 passengers from Doha, Dubai, Jakarta, New York, Seoul and other cities during the day.
As Covid-19 isolation and checkpoints were removed at Shanghai Pudong Airport International Terminal, passengers on the first flight from New Zealand found their families waiting in the terminal without any screening measures.
Pudong, which was the busiest airport in China in the past 20 years, served 39 million passengers a year in 2019 before the epidemic, while this number decreased to 1.64 million in 2022 due to quarantine measures and flight restrictions.
While it was reported that Beijing is waiting for 18 international flights to the Capital International Airport today, the Civil Aviation Administration of China announced that diverted flights to other cities from the airport, which was closed to international flights during the epidemic period, will now they can land back in the capital.
CHINA-HONG KONG BORDER OPEN
On the other hand, after the removal of epidemic control measures between mainland China and Hong Kong, land, sea and air transportation began. Ticket bookings for flights from Hong Kong to China increased 62 percent.
As travel requests began to be accepted at the customs gates between Hong Kong and the mainland city of Xinjiang, crossings were seen to be infrequent. It was reported that 1,600 passengers passed through the Futien customs gate and 200 passengers passed through the Vincindu border gate.
While it was shared that 300,000 China travel requests have been made in Hong Kong so far, it was noted that travel will be limited to 60,000 people per day.
It was reported that the customs gates at Ruili on the Myanmar border and Suifınhi border on the Russian border, which were quarantined for a long time due to cross-border cases during the Covid-19 epidemic, have returned to their normal course.
On December 26, 2022, the National Health Commission announced that Covid-19 would no longer be considered a “category A epidemic” as of January 8 and the restrictions imposed by the Border Health and Quarantine Law would be lifted. .
The Foreign Ministry announced that with the new app, passengers coming from abroad will not have to obtain a health code from Chinese embassies and consulates before travel, and will not be kept in central quarantine even if they test positive on arrival. .
The Civil Aviation Administration also announced that restrictions on the number of flights and passengers on international flights due to the epidemic will be lifted.
Following the start of the Covid-19 epidemic, China canceled all visas in March 2022, closed its borders to the world, and limited flights. (AA)