About 490,000 exit, entry trips made daily in China since Jan 8

BEIJING - About 490,000 entry and exit trips were made to and from China daily between Jan 8 and Jan 12 after the country

reopened its borders,

an official from the country’s immigration bureau told a news briefing on Friday.

This is up 48.9 per cent from the period before China’s Covid-19 policy easing but is only 26.2 per cent of 2019 levels, said Mr Liu Haitao, director-general of the Department of Frontier Inspection and Management under the National Immigration Administration.

Of the 490,000 trips, 250,000 were inbound and the rest were outbound, he added.

China reopened its borders for the first time in three years on Sunday.

It cancelled restrictions

such as quarantine for inbound travellers

as it dismantled its zero-Covid policy.

Mr Liu said, meanwhile, that some 1.35 million people have applied for passports and Hong Kong and Macau visas since Jan 8.

“The number of applications for entry and exit documents will continue to increase steadily in the near future,” he said on Friday.

REUTERS