As Covid Border Curbs end, Chinese rush to renew their passports

 

People started to form lengthy lines outside of immigration offices in Beijing on Monday, prepared to renew their passports, after China lifted COVID border restrictions that had practically prevented its 1.4 billion residents from travelling for three years.

One of the last phases in China's "zero-COVID" regime's dissolution, which started last month following historic protests against restrictions that prevented the virus but stoked massive resentment among its populace, is Sunday's reopening.

A 67-year-old retiree named Yang Jianguo told Reuters he was planning to meet his daughter in the US for the first time in three years while waiting in line with more than 100 other people to renew his passport in the Chinese capital.

"Her wedding had to be postponed last year since we couldn't make it over. We are so relieved that we can depart," Standing close to his wife, Yang spoke.

On Monday, investors bet that the reopening would boost a $17 trillion economy that was experiencing its slowest growth in over fifty years. This led to a strengthening of the Chinese currency and stock markets.

Beijing's decision to eliminate quarantine regulations for visitors is anticipated to increase outbound travel because locals won't be subject to the same limitations when their return.

In an effort to contain an outbreak that has overstretched many of China's hospitals and cemeteries, however, flights are constrained and several nations are asking visitors from China to submit to negative tests. Before departing China, travellers must also obtain negative COVID tests.

 Top health officials in China and state media have frequently said that COVID infections are at a peak nationwide and that the disease is no longer a danger.

The People's Daily, the Communist Party's official newspaper, declared in an editorial published late on Sunday that the government's anti-virus initiatives had advanced from "preventing infection" to "preventing severe disease," declaring that "life is moving forward again!"

As of January 8, China had officially reported only 5,272 COVID-related deaths, one of the lowest rates of infection-related fatalities worldwide.

However, the World Health Organization has claimed that China is understating the scope of the outbreak, and international virus experts predict that more than one million Chinese citizens may succumb to the illness this year.

In defiance of such negative forecasts, Asian stocks rose to their highest level in five months on Monday, and the Chinese yuan appreciated to its best level against the dollar since mid-August.