CHINA will cancel nucleic acid tests for international arrivals starting from Jan. 8, a statement on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

Inbound travelers to China are advised to take a PCR test within 48 hours before their departure. People with a positive test result are advised to postpone their travels until they test negative, it said.

There is no need for travelers to apply for a health code from Chinese diplomatic and consular missions. According to the statement, they will declare their health status on the customs card.

Those with an abnormal health status declaration or fever symptoms will receive an antigen test at customs. They will be advised to self-isolate at home until recovery or be treated in hospital, depending on their health conditions, it said.

China will scrap restrictions on international passenger flights, increase the number of flights in stages, and optimize the distribution of routes, according to the statement.

Airlines will continue to carry out disinfection on board, and passengers are required to wear masks when flying, it said.

China will further optimize arrangements for foreigners traveling to China for work, business, study, family visits, and reunions, and provide visa facilitations accordingly, it said.

Measures will be taken to ensure that freight at various ports will return to pre-epidemic levels as soon as possible, and outbound tourism for Chinese citizens will be resumed in an orderly manner, said the statement.

Moreover, China will manage COVID-19 with measures against Class B infectious diseases, instead of Class A infectious diseases, in a major shift of its epidemic response policies.

China has renamed the Chinese term for COVID-19 from “novel coronavirus pneumonia” to “novel coronavirus infection,” said a statement released by the National Health Commission on Monday.

Starting from Jan. 8, China will downgrade management of the disease from Class A to Class B in accordance with the country’s law on prevention and treatment of infectious disease, and remove it from quarantinable infectious disease management carried out in accordance with the Frontier Health and Quarantine Law of the People’s Republic of China, added the statement.

Currently, COVID-19 is classified as a Class B infectious disease but subject to the preventive and control measures for a Class A infectious disease in China.

Basic conditions have been in place to support such an adjustment, said a document released by the State Council joint prevention and control mechanism against COVID-19 on the same day, citing the latest virus mutation, the development of the epidemic and the country’s epidemic response basis.

Authorities will drop quarantine measures against people infected with novel coronavirus and stop identifying close contacts or designating high-risk and low-risk areas, said the document.

(Xinhua)