What’s new: Infectious disease specialist Zhang Wenhong estimates that China may wait until the first half of 2022 to begin relaxing its restrictions on international travel.
The timeline would depend on vaccination rates both domestically and abroad, Zhang was quoted as saying in media reports.
“Getting people vaccinated as soon as possible and meeting the need for conditional opening, China will be able to conditionally resume exchanges with other countries that are well vaccinated and have low incidence of infection,” the director of the infectious diseases department at Shanghai’s Huashan Hospital told the Global Health Forum of the Boao Forum for Asia.
The background: As with many countries and regions, inbound travel to the Chinese mainland has been significantly curtailed since early 2020. Those who are able to enter the country are usually subject to weeks of quarantine.
China has approved five domestically made vaccines for emergency or general use. As of Tuesday, more than 680 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered across China, according to the National Health Commission (link in Chinese).
On Sunday, Zhong Nanshan, another prominent infectious disease expert, said he hoped that the country could inoculate 80% of its population by the end of the year.
Contact reporter Cai Xuejiao (xuejiaocai@caixin.com) and editor Joshua Dummer (joshuadummer@caixin.com)
Get our weekly free Must-Read newsletter.
