BEIJING: As China eased COVID curbs, Monday witnessed huge traffic at the immigration offices in Beijing to renew their passports. China had closed its border after the outbreak was reported in Wuhan- since then 1.4 billion residents have been barred from traveling outside the nation. The relaxation is expected to boost the outbound travel as the resident on return would not have to face any quarantine restrictions.
The consideration to re-open borders came after massive protests spurt in the country revolting against the -ZERO COVID Regime imposed by the authorities.
The Chinese currency and stock markets also bounced back following the relaxation on Monday. According to officials in the know, investors bet the reopening could help re-invigorate a $ 17 trillion economy suffering its lowest growth in nearly half a century.
However, authorities have kept in place pre-departure negative COVID reports from travelers. Flights from South Korea to China were close to full on Sunday, sources from the aviation ministry quoted. With the relaxation, China’s domestic tourism revenue this year is expected to recover 70-75 percent of pre-covid levels. However, a part of the tourism percentage rise is expected for inbound and outbound travel.
As of 8th Jan, the country reported 5,272 COVID-related deaths.