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Covid-19: Chinese border crossings hit half a million per day since reopening, lifting of restrictions
- Border crossings up almost 50 per cent after zero-Covid, but still just one-quarter of pre-pandemic levels
- Travel numbers are expected to peak just before Lunar New Year
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More than half a million people have crossed mainland China’s borders daily since Beijing lifted its zero-Covid restrictions on January 8, according to figures released on Tuesday by the National Immigration Administration.
The average daily port arrival and departure numbers have increased by 48.2 per cent compared with figures from during China’s zero-Covid restrictions, the data showed.
However, the average number of crossings at 501,000 was only a quarter of the pre-pandemic level.
“As permit applications and immigration clearances return to normal, the volume of permits processed and the number of arrivals and departures will continue to grow until they reach pre-pandemic levels,” said Lin Yongsheng, an immigration administration spokesman.
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Authorities said they processed an average of 340,100 permit applications per day, more than twice the number before the zero-Covid policy was lifted, but the number is half of pre-pandemic levels.
In 2022, the administration recorded a total of 115 million arrivals and departures at mainland Chinese ports, with mainland residents accounting for 64.6 million of the crossings, while residents of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan accounted for 46 million crossings.
By comparison, in 2019, a total of 670 million port arrivals and departures were recorded, with 350 million of those crossings made by mainland residents.
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