- The BYD Seal Hybrid U DM-i AWD in a practical test by journalists
- Leading climate activist released from Vietnam jail
- Ethiopians struggle with bitter pill of currency reform
- Sri Lanka votes in first poll since economic collapse
- Feminist author warns of abortion disaster if Trump wins US election
- US city of Flint still reeling from water crisis, 10 years on
- Arsenal's mean defence faces acid test to shut out Man City again
- Late surge lifts Thailand's Jeeno to LPGA Queen City lead
- DeChambeau says PGA's Ryder Cup decision 'just the start'
- Alcaraz defeated on Laver Cup debut
- Postecoglou embraces 'struggle' to make Spurs a success
- Nice hand 'ashamed' Saint-Etienne 8-0 Ligue 1 mauling
- Boeing CEO says ending strike 'a top priority'
- Stock markets mostly fall after Fed-fueled rally
- Harris slams Trump for hypocrisy on abortion as US starts voting
- Academy to host first overseas ceremony to honor young filmmakers
- No doctor necessary: US okays nasal spray flu vaccine for self-use
- Gurbaz, birthday boy Rashid lead Afghanistan to 177-run rout of South Africa
- Former delivery man Baldwin leads star names at PGA Championship
- Trump shooting: Secret Service admits complacency
- Can an ambitious Milei make Argentina an AI giant?
- Haiti, its suffering growing, in 'race against time': UN expert
- Ibrahim Aqil, the Hezbollah elite unit commander wanted by the US
- Chinese forward Cui signs NBA contract with Brooklyn Nets
- US Fed dissenter calls for 'measured' pace of rate cuts
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload as Kompany demands cap on games
- Norway limits wild salmon fishing as stocks hit new lows
- Top Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli strike on Beirut
- Rotterdam fatal knife attacker suspected of 'terrorist motive'
- First early votes cast in knife-edge US presidential election
- Top-ranked Swiatek out of Beijing due to 'personal matters'
- Hard-right Reform UK looks to the future after vote success
- Embiid agrees to NBA contract extension with 76ers
- Joshua aims to complete road to redemption in Dubois bout
- World champion Bagnaia sets pace with lap record at Misano
- Biden says 'working' to get people back to homes on Israel-Lebanon border
- Pope criticises Argentina's crackdown on protesters
- Court limits screenings of videos in France mass rape case
- Gurbaz century takes Afghanistan to 311-4 in 2nd ODI
- Central banks face 'difficult balancing act': IMF chief
- McLaren's Norris sets Singapore pace as struggling Verstappen 15th
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload fears
- Paris Olympics sports equipment moves to new homes
- 'Happy' Kinghorn relishing life at Toulouse
- Norris sets Singapore pace as Verstappen only 15th
- 8 dead in Israeli strike, source says Hezbollah commander killed
- Germany to bid to host women's Euro 2029
- Portugal brings deadly forest fires under control
- Postecoglou defends Solanke after slow start to Spurs career
- US nuclear plant Three Mile Island to reopen to power Microsoft
Jubilant Chinese plan trips abroad with Covid quarantines to end
People in China reacted with joy and rushed to plan trips overseas Tuesday after Beijing said it would scrap mandatory Covid quarantine for overseas arrivals that will end almost three years of self-imposed isolation.
In a snap move late Monday, China said from January 8 inbound travellers would no longer be required to quarantine on arrival in a further unwinding of hardline coronavirus controls that had that torpedoed its economy and sparked nationwide protests.
Cases have surged nationwide as key pillars of the containment policy have fallen away, with authorities acknowledging the outbreak is "impossible" to track and doing away with much-maligned official case tallies.
Beijing also narrowed the criteria by which Covid fatalities are counted last week, a move experts said would suppress the number of deaths attributable to the virus.
Still, many Chinese reacted with joy to the end of restrictions that have kept the country largely closed off to the outside world since March 2020.
"I felt like the epidemic is finally over," said Beijing office worker Fan Chengcheng, 27.
"The travel plans I made three years ago may now become a reality."
Shanghai resident Ji Weihe said the move would make China "benefit the economy, peoples' lives and their desires to go out and travel".
Another Shanghai local, surnamed Du, said a swifter reopening may help the country reach herd immunity more quickly, adding that there was "no way to avoid" the virus now circulating in the eastern megacity.
Online searches for flights abroad surged on the news, with travel platform Tongcheng seeing an 850 percent jump in searches and a ten-fold jump in enquiries about visas, according to state media reports.
Rival platform Trip.com Group said the volume of searches for popular overseas destinations rose by 10 times year-on-year within half an hour of the announcement.
Users were particularly keen on trips to Macau, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand and South Korea, it added.
But some Chinese may face hurdles when they do go abroad, with Japan announcing that it would require Covid-19 tests on arrival for travellers from mainland China from Friday.
Rising cases in China, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, were "causing growing concern in Japan."
- 'Relief' -
The announcement effectively brought the curtain down on a zero-Covid regime of mass testing, strict lockdowns and long quarantines that has roiled supply chains and buffeted business engagement with the world's second-largest economy.
"The overwhelming view is just relief," said Tom Simpson, managing director for China at the China-Britain Business Council.
"It brings an end to three years of very significant disruption."
An uptick in international trade missions is now expected for next year, he told AFP, although the full resumption of business operations is likely to be "gradual" as airlines slowly bring more flights online and companies tweak their China strategies for 2023.
All passengers arriving in China have had to undergo mandatory centralised quarantine since March 2020. That decreased from three weeks to one week in June, and to five days last month.
The end of those rules in January will also see Covid-19 downgraded to a Class B infectious disease from Class A, a formal distinction that allows authorities to adopt looser controls.
Some entry restrictions remain in place, with China still largely suspending the issuance of visas for overseas tourists and students.
- 'Protect themselves' -
The Chinese government and state media have sought to portray an image of measured calm as Covid has finally washed across the country.
But officials in several major cities have said hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to have been infected in recent weeks.
Hospitals and crematoriums across the country have also been full with Covid patients and victims, according to independent reporting by AFP and other media.
Some studies have estimated around one million people could die in China from Covid over the next few months.
The Chinese government announced last week that it would effectively stop recording the number of people who were dying of Covid.
And Beijing's National Health Commission (NHC) said Saturday it would no longer publish daily case figures.
The winter surge comes ahead of two major public holidays next month, in which hundreds of millions of people are expected to travel to their hometowns to reunite with relatives.
M.Fischer--AMWN