China eases COVID-19 restrictions for overseas travellers

Beijing [China], June 28 (ANI): In the biggest relaxation of entry restrictions after sticking to a zero COVID-19 policy throughout the pandemic, China on Tuesday reduced the length of mandatory quarantine for inbound travellers from 14 days to seven days.
As per the new guideline, the length of mandatory quarantine for overseas travellers to seven days.
"China has tweaked COVID-19 prevention playbook to shorten collective quarantine time of close contacts and intl arrivals to 7 days. It also unified the standard of classifying high-, medium-risk areas, based on if new cases emerge in the past 7 days," Global Times reported.
On Monday, the primary and middle schools in Beijing has been opened after nearly two months due to the coronavirus, Global Times reported.
Macau launched its third round of mandatory COVID-19 testing for more than 600,000 residents.
A total of 38 new coronavirus cases were recorded on Sunday, taking the total number of infections to 299 in the latest outbreak, the Straits Times reported citing Health authorities.
Meanwhile, Lei Zhenglong, an official with the National Health Commission said that China reported 25 new local COVID-19 infection cases on average daily from June 20 to 27.
Infections are still being reported in some areas, Lei said, warning of the risk of community spread.
The pandemic is developing, and the COVID-19 virus is evolving, Lei said, adding that China still faces a tough situation in its COVID-19 containment.
China closed off its international borders in March 2020.
Meanwhile, a raft of tightened restrictions and targeted lockdowns have led many experts and residents to question the sustainability of such an approach as China enters the third year of the pandemic.
Some Chinese public health experts called the latest rebound the most severe onslaught since the early epidemic in Wuhan and even after two years of fighting the epidemic with rigorous measures, different sectors have shown a certain level of fatigue toward the Zero-COVID strategy, which could affect the outcome of the implementation of the current policy. (ANI)