March 14, 2023 03:36 pm | Updated 07:35 pm IST - BeijingChina will, starting March 15, 2023, fully reopen its borders and allow tourists back into the country after three years of pandemic restrictions. The country’s embassies abroad will resume “issuing various categories of visas to foreigners Wednesday,” the Department of Consular Affairs of the Foreign Ministry in Beijing said. Since early 2020, China had some of the most stringent travel restrictions of anywhere in the world, and was essentially closed off from international travel. China ended the “zero-COVID” policy in early December 2022, and starting January 8, 2023, opened its borders for family reunions and ended the mandatory quarantine for international arrivals. This followed the Chinese government downgrading management of COVID-19 from a Class A to Class B infectious disease, no longer allowing for lockdowns and quarantine.

Source: The Hindu March 14, 2023 23:08 UTC