A growing number of countries around the world are demanding visitors from China take COVID-19 tests days before it drops border controls and ushers in a much-anticipated return to travel for a population largely stuck at home for the past three years.
Starting Sunday, China will end mandatory quarantines for inbound travelers, the latest dismantling of its "zero Covid" regime that began last month after historic protests against a stifling series of mass lockdowns.
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But the abrupt changes have exposed many of China's 1.4 billion people to the virus for the first time, sparking a wave of infections that is overwhelming some hospitals, emptying pharmacy shelves of medicines and sparking international concern.
Greece, Germany, and Sweden joined more than a dozen countries on Thursday in demanding Covid testing from Chinese travelers, as the World Health Organization said China's official virus data was underreporting the true extent of its outbreak.
Chinese officials and state media have struck a defiant tone, defending the handling of the outbreak, downplaying the seriousness of the surge and denouncing overseas travel requirements for its residents.
“No matter how China decides to deal with the Covid-19 epidemic, some Western media and some Western politicians will never be satisfied,” the Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, wrote in an editorial late Thursday.
The global aviation industry, which has been hit by years of pandemic restrictions, has also criticized decisions to impose tests on travelers from China. China will continue to require pre-departure testing for inbound travelers after January 8. Some Chinese citizens think the reopening was too hasty.
“They should have taken several measures before opening … and at least made sure the pharmacies were well stocked,”
a 70-year-old man who gave his surname as Zhao told Reuters in Shanghai. China reported five new Covid deaths on the mainland on Thursday, raising the official death toll from the virus to 5,264, one of the lowest in the world.
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