By GoKunming Staff in News June 28, 2022

Today the National Health Commission in China released new guidelines cutting the original 14 days of quarantine in half, after which three days of at-home medical observation follows. International travelers coming into China will now only spend one week in centralized facilities.

China has reported less than 200 daily cases nationwide for over a week, which came to a recent new low of 22 reported cases on Monday. This stands in stark contrast to many other parts of the world that are still reporting thousands of new cases every single day.

It is not clear yet whether the policy changes will result in an increase of inbound international flights. Ticket prices have skyrocketed sometimes reaching over ten times pre-covid levels coming back into China. Many expats in China have in recent months made plans to leave China as a result of quarantine policies, heightened prices of flight tickets as well as the extended lockdown that kept millions of people in Shanghai stuck in their homes.

China is still quite far from opening up entirely, with limited available flights, negative COVID tests being required upon entry, and visas still being hard to obtain. However, with Shanghai mostly returning to pre-lockdown life, including the announced resumption of dine-in services at restaurants starting June 29, as well as the announced reduction in COVID quarantine times for inbound travelers earlier today, there's some hope on the horizon.