China will drop Covid-19 quarantine requirements for passengers arriving from abroad from 8 January, its National Health Commission has announced in the latest easing of the country’s once-strict virus-control measures. Currently, arriving passengers must quarantine for five days at a hotel, followed by three days at home. At one stage there was a requirement to quarantine for three weeks. The scrapping of the measure is a major step toward fully reopening travel with the rest of the world, which the government severely curtailed in a bid to keep the virus…
Year: 2022
Thailand Prays for ‘Miracle’ for Gravely Ill Princess
Bangkok, Thailand — Thai royals, celebrities and members of the public have led prayers for Princess Bajrakitiyabha Narendira Debyavati, the oldest child of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, who remains gravely ill after collapsing December 14 while training her dog for a contest. The 44-year-old princess, better known to the Thai public as Princess Ong-Bha, is a senior member of Thailand’s royal family, which sits at the top of the country’s hierarchy of power. She was hospitalized after losing consciousness early in the morning while in northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima province. The most…
China to End Quarantine on Arrival in Fresh COVID Rule Relaxation
Beijing — China said Monday it would scrap mandatory quarantine on arrival, further unwinding years of strict virus controls as the country battles a surge in cases. Having mostly cut itself off from the rest of the world during the pandemic, China is now experiencing an unprecedented surge in infections after abruptly lifting restrictions that torpedoed the economy and sparked nationwide protests. And in a sudden end to nearly three years of strict border controls, Beijing said late Monday it would scrap mandatory quarantines for overseas travelers. Since March 2020,…
China Races to Vaccinate Elderly, But Many Are Reluctant
BEIJING — Chinese authorities are going door to door and paying people older than 60 to get vaccinated against COVID-19. But even as cases surge, 64-year-old Li Liansheng said his friends are alarmed by stories of fevers, blood clots and other side effects. “When people hear about such incidents, they may not be willing to take the vaccines,” said Li, who had been vaccinated before he caught COVID-19. A few days after his 10-day bout with the virus, Li is nursing a sore throat and cough. He said it was…
‘We’re all fleeing persecution’: Chinese asylum-seekers head to US via Darién Gap
It’s morning in the Colombian port town of Necoclí, and a large group of Chinese nationals, including three children and a woman with a baby, have their lifejackets on, waiting for a launch to take them across the Gulf of Urabá to a landing point in neighboring Panama. Elsewhere in the town, people of Chinese descent — mostly young or middle-aged and predominantly male — can be seen buying up camping gear and waterproof boots, while others eat in local restaurants with Caribbean salsa blaring outside, despite not knowing a…
The pendulum swung against globalisation in 2022 – and that’s no bad thing | Larry Elliott
This was supposed to be the year when things returned to normal. After the collapse of activity during the months of lockdown in 2020 and the supply bottlenecks of 2021, the hope was that 2022 would call time on an era of seemingly permanent crisis. It hasn’t quite turned out like that. Indeed, 2022 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for the global economy, taking its place alongside the end of the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate system in 1971, the reunification of Germany in 1990 and the…
Coronavirus and natural disasters not enough to derail China’s anti-poverty efforts, Beijing says
But with the economy blighted by hardline Covid controls until recently, as well as external headwinds, officials have repeatedly warned that poverty alleviation measures could be undone. As of November, 65.7 per cent of households monitored in China’s less developed central and western regions were cleared of risks of falling back into poverty, while the rest have received government help, Xu said. Advertisement Authorities also said as of November the number of rural residents who were pulled out of poverty and entered the labour force reached more than 32 million.…
With ‘Zero Covid,’ China Proved It’s Good at Control. Governance Is Harder.
A widely circulated WeChat article speculated that the shortage of fever medications reflected the government’s lack of preparation for loosening control. And if the government had shown the same political will that it had in implementing “zero Covid,” the article argued, it could have ensured there was ample supply of such medication. “It doesn’t care about the ordinary people, leaving them to fend for themselves and even delighting in their chaos,” the article said, and it urged officials to show up where the public most needed them to win back…
China to reopen borders, drop Covid quarantine from January 8
At the border, the infected must be isolated and those who might be infected quarantined, depending on the incubation period. But three sources from provincial health authorities and hospitals in Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangsu said they were notified by the National Health Commission on Sunday, asking them to prepare for the downgrade to category B management from January 8. 02:27 Inside an overcrowded Beijing hospital struggling with Covid surge in China That category means Covid-19 only requires “necessary treatment and measures to curb the spread”. Advertisement The Post understands from…
With Record Military Incursions, China Warns Taiwan and the U.S.
China sent a record number of military aircraft to menace self-ruled Taiwan in a large show of force to the Biden administration, signaling that Beijing wants to maintain pressure on Taiwan even as some tensions between the superpowers are easing. The swarm of Chinese fighter jets, maritime patrol planes and drones that buzzed the airspace near Taiwan in the 24-hour period leading to Monday morning demonstrated Beijing’s appetite for confrontation with the United States over Taiwan, the island democracy China claims as its territory. The military activity — which, according…