For nearly three years, China has managed COVID as a disease similar to bubonic plague and cholera, and earlier this year as cases spread, entire communities were locked down, sometimes for months. For.
Dozens also flocked to the Weibo account of Li Wenliang, a Wuhan doctor who died in 2020 after raising the early alarm about COVID-19 and whose last posts were a reminder of personal crises and public policies. Online shelter. ,
“Doctor, we’ve made it, we’re going to be free,”
A user wrote. “Daylight is here,” wrote another.
Shanghai was among the first to announce that it would implement new home quarantine guidelines and also lift rules on travelers entering the city. The Shanghai Disneyland theme park will reopen to visitors on Thursday.
Some investors also welcomed the change, which could revive China’s slumping economy and currency and spur global growth.
“This change in policy is a big step forward,” said Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management. “I expect China to fully reopen its border by mid-2023.”
Foreign businesses in China also expect the changes to mark a shift to wider opening.
“We need the business environment here to return to forecast levels, allowing companies to return to normal operations,” Colm Rafferty, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said in a statement.
But NHC spokesman Mi Feng told a news conference that any changes to measures for inbound travel would be “gradual”.