China lifts travel restrictions despite surging COVID cases, prompting concern in U.S. and other nations

Tokyo — Many hospitals and funeral homes say they are overwhelmed. Worsening COVID-19 epidemic in China, the government has reported only a handful of new deaths from the virus.Surge in Cases Overall China eliciting responses from other countries, including the United States

Japan, India, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia have already announced mandatory virus tests for visitors from China, and Japanese authorities have severely limited the number of flights to and from China.

U.S. officials are considering similar measures, officials told CBS News on Wednesday, raising concerns over rising infections and lack of transparent data from Beijing. To identify species and take prompt action to reduce spread.

A U.S. official told CBS News that, along with international partners, Washington will continue to monitor rising cases in China, identify new strains of concern that may emerge there, and seek to “protect the American public.” It said it was considering “potential actions” it could take to…

Among the new restrictions imposed by Japan, travelers from China entered the country, COVID-19 (new coronavirus infectious disease) Must be quarantined in a designated facility for one week.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the new restrictions were temporary and due to a lack of information on the true state of the pandemic in China.

China is lifting restrictions quickly after dramatically upending years of “zero COVID” policies aimed at eradicating all cases of the coronavirus. Authorities plan to lift all travel bans early next year. The move could trigger a flood of Chinese travelers traveling abroad over the New Year holidays after his nearly three-year phased lockdown under a strict zero-COVID approach.

The news that international inbound travelers will no longer have to undergo quarantine and the lifting of the ban on issuing or renewing passports for Chinese citizens has excited people across the vast country.

Within 15 minutes of the policy change being announced, searches for popular international destinations increased 10x, and popular Chinese travel booking site Qunar saw a 7x increase in searches for international flights. I am reporting.

But the relief over the end of the lockdown in China has eased, and much of the country is now in dire straits. Some estimates suggest that more than half of all Beijing residents are now infected with the virus.

Dr. Howard Bernstein said the Beijing hospital where he works is running out of beds and is “overwhelmed from head to foot.

Chinese officials say COVID has only claimed about 5,000 lives, but recent scenes at funeral homes tell a darker story. This week, the line of coffins in an unidentified building in northern China appears to be endless.

An explosion of cases in China, where many people are unvaccinated or remain unvaccinated, could kill a million people by the end of 2023, according to at least one estimate. . Threatens to unleash new, more dangerous mutations of virus.

Tucker Reals, Gillian Morley and Shuai Zhang of CBS News contributed to this report.