What’s new: International flight crews and related personnel from Sunday will no longer have to go through quarantine when they return to the Chinese mainland, the country’s airline regulator said.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China’s 10th version of epidemic prevention and control guidelines for airlines and airports, released on Thurday, also removed the “closed-loop management” requirement that forbids crew members from leaving their hotel rooms while abroad.
The new rules also dropped the requirement for flight crews to wear protective gear abroad, though they still require staff who have frequent contact with passengers, such as at check-in, to wear specific types of masks.
The last edition of the guidelines, released in August, required flight crews to undergo seven days of centralized quarantine and three more days of health monitoring whenever they returned to the mainland.
What’s more: The National Health Commission (NHC) released the 10th edition of Covid-19 diagnosis and treatment plan on Friday, which removed the identification of suspected cases, refined its clinical classification methods, and added rapid antigen test results to the list of Covid-19 diagnostic criteria.
These measures come as the NHC announced it will stop treating Covid-19 as a Class A infectious disease and remove restrictions on international travel, including the end of quarantine for inbound travelers, beginning Jan. 8.
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)
Get our weekly free Must-Read newsletter.
