With China days away from dropping border controls that have effectively shut it off from the rest of the world for three years, countries are lining up to impose curbs on travelers from China to contain its raging COVID-19 outbreak. | Reuters
Chinese officials and state media have struck a defiant tone, defending the handling of the outbreak, playing down the severity of the surge and denouncing foreign travel requirements on its residents.
But that is at odds with the situation on the ground where funeral parlors and crematoriums are overwhelmed, and some hospitals are packed with elderly patients on respirators. The WHO has warned that the holiday, which starts on January 21 and usually brings the biggest human migration on the planet as people head home from cities to see families in the countryside, could generate another wave of infections without higher vaccination rates and other precautions.Authorities expect 2.1 billion passenger trips, by road, rail, water and air, over the holiday, double last year’s 1.05 billion during the same period.
One region that could be a major beneficiary of China’s opening is Southeast Asia, which has steered clear of demanding COVID tests from Chinese visitors.
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