Covid-19: China may not relax border controls until 2022 as vaccination plan makes slow progress
- Preventing imported cases from sparking local outbreaks is ‘the priority among the priorities’, NDRC says in annual report
- Herd immunity in China will not be achieved until the middle of next year at the earliest, head of Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention says
This came as the government said the pandemic was still serious, and a leading health expert said herd immunity was unlikely to be achieved before the middle of 2022.
Keeping the disease under control was one of the priorities for 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in its annual report released on Friday, and preventing imported cases from sparking local outbreaks was “the priority among the priorities”.
“Remote prevention and control measures will be strictly implemented,” the report said, referring to Beijing’s requirements that anyone planning to travel to China must meet before they set off.
“Public health systems at ports will be improved and all who enter China must take a nucleic test for the virus,” it said.
The government tightened its controls on inbound travellers after several outbreaks – in Beijing, Heilongjiang, Jilin and Shandong provinces – were linked to foreign visitors after the disease had largely been brought under control within China.
