People in China reacted with joy and rushed to plan trips abroad Tuesday after Beijing said it would scrap mandatory Covid quarantine for overseas arrivals, ending almost three years of self-imposed isolation.

In a snap move late Monday, China said that from January 8 inbound travellers would no longer need to quarantine, as it further unwinds hardline virus controls that had torpedoed the economy and sparked nationwide protests.

Infections have surged nationwide as key pillars of the containment policy have been dismantled, while authorities acknowledged the outbreak is "impossible" to track and discontinued much-maligned daily case tallies.

Still, many Chinese were jubilant to learn of the end of restrictions that have kept the country largely closed off to the world since March 2020.

"I felt like the epidemic is finally over... The travel plans I made three years ago may now become a reality," said Beijing office worker Fan Chengcheng, 27.

A Shanghai resident surnamed Chen said it "felt like someone has pressed the button to end the movie", adding that her parents in Britain would be able to visit more easily.

"Finally, China's going back to normal," she told AFP.

Another Shanghai local, surnamed Du, said a swifter reopening may help the country reach so-called herd immunity more quickly, adding that there was "no way to avoid" the virus in the eastern megacity.

Online searches for flights abroad surged on the news, with travel platform Tongcheng seeing an 850 percent jump in searches and a 10-fold spike in enquiries about visas, according to state media reports.

Rival platform Trip.com Group said searches for popular overseas destinations rose 10-fold year-on-year within half an hour of the announcement -- with users particularly keen on Macau, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand and South Korea.

But some may face hurdles going abroad, with Japan saying it would require Covid tests on arrival for travellers from mainland China from Friday.

Rising cases in China, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, were "causing growing concern in Japan".

Beijing's foreign ministry said Tuesday that countries should uphold "scientific and appropriate" disease controls that "should not affect normal personnel exchanges".

- 'Relief' -

The Chinese announcement effectively brought the curtain down on a zero-Covid regime of mass testing, lockdowns and long quarantines that has roiled supply chains and buffeted business engagement with the world's second-largest economy.

"The overwhelming view is just relief," said Tom Simpson, managing director for China at the China-Britain Business Council.

"It brings an end to three years of very significant disruption."

An uptick in international trade missions is now expected for next year, he told AFP, although full resumption of business operations is likely to be "gradual" as airlines slowly bring more flights online and companies tweak their China strategies for 2023.

The EU Chamber of Commerce in China also welcomed a move that would "potentially boost business confidence" and let executives and workers travel more freely.

All passengers arriving in China have had to undergo mandatory centralised quarantine since March 2020. That decreased from three weeks to one week in June, and to five days last month.

The end of that rule in January will also see Covid-19 downgraded to a Class B infectious disease from Class A, allowing authorities to adopt looser controls.

On Tuesday, Chinese immigration authorities announced the gradual resumption starting January 8 of passport issuance for "tourism" or "overseas visits of friends" -- suspended due to the pandemic.

And foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said China would "optimise" arrangements for foreign nationals seeking to return to work, conduct business, study abroad or visit relatives.

Some entry restrictions will remain however, with China still largely suspending the issuance of visas for overseas tourists and students.

Beijing said Tuesday it would "continue to adjust its visa policy for foreigners visiting China in a scientific and dynamic manner in accordance with... the epidemic situation".

- Winter surge -

China's government and state media have sought to project an image of measured calm as Covid washes across the country.

But officials in several cities have said hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to have been infected in recent weeks.

Hospitals and crematoriums are overflowing, according to independent reporting by AFP and other media.

The government announced last week that it would effectively stop recording the number of people dying of Covid, while the National Health Commission said Saturday it would no longer publish daily case figures -- widely criticised as inaccurate.

But some studies have projected around one million people could die in China from Covid over the next few months.

The winter surge comes ahead of major public holidays next month in which hundreds of millions are expected to travel to reunite with relatives.

China to stop publishing daily Covid figures: NHC
Beijing (AFP) Dec 25, 2022 - China will no longer publish daily figures for Covid-19 cases and deaths, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Sunday, ending a practice that began in early 2020.

Cities across China are struggling with surging virus cases, resulting in pharmacy shelves stripped bare and overflowing hospitals and crematoriums, after Beijing suddenly dismantled its zero-Covid regime earlier this month.

The decision to scrap the daily virus count comes amid concerns that the country's blooming wave of infections is not being accurately reflected in official statistics.

Beijing last week admitted the scale of the outbreak has become "impossible" to track following the end of mandatory mass testing.

Last week, China also narrowed the criteria by which Covid-19 fatalities were counted -- a move experts said would suppress the number of fatalities attributable to the virus.

The NHC did not offer an explanation for its decision to stop releasing daily Covid data.

"From today, we will no longer publish daily information on the epidemic," the NHC said.

"The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will publish information about the outbreak for reference and research purposes," the NHC said, without specifying the type or frequency of information to be published.

-'Can you talk about it?' -

On Chinese social media, some users responded to the NHC's decision with cynicism, pointing to the increasing discrepancy between official statistics and infections within their families and social circles.

"Finally, they are waking up and realising they can't fool people anymore," wrote one user on the social network Weibo.

Another user said: "This was the best and biggest fake statistics manufacturing office in the country."

Under China's new definition of Covid deaths, only those who die of respiratory failure -- and not pre-existing conditions exacerbated by the virus -- are counted.

Only six Covid deaths have been reported since Beijing unwound most of its restrictions.

But crematorium workers interviewed by AFP have reported an unusually high influx of bodies, while hospitals have said they are tallying multiple fatalities per day, as wards fill up with elderly patients and they are forced to fill atriums with beds.

"Are there crematorium workers here? Are you overloaded? Can you talk about it?" another Weibo user wrote.

China's censors and mouthpieces have been working overtime to spin the decision to scrap strict travel curbs, quarantines and snap lockdowns as a victory, even as cases soar.

While state media has largely refrained from reporting the grimmer side of the exit plan, they have, to some extent, said hospitals are under stress from an influx of patients and a shortage of anti-fever drugs.

In a rare acknowledgement this week, a senior health official in the eastern city of Qingdao was quoted by the media as saying half a million people are being infected daily.

Health authorities in Zhejiang, a coastal province of around 65 million people south of Shanghai, said the number of daily infections now exceeded the one million mark.

And in Beijing, "a large number of infected people" were reported on Saturday.

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Xi urges steps to 'protect' lives as China battles Covid wave
Beijing (AFP) Dec 26, 2022
Chinese President Xi Jinping urged officials on Monday to take steps to protect lives in his first public remarks on Covid-19 since Beijing dramatically loosened hardline containment measures this month. Having mostly cut itself off from the rest of the world during the pandemic, China is now experiencing the planet's biggest surge in infections after abruptly lifting restrictions that torpedoed the economy. Studies have estimated that around one million people could die over the next few months ... read more