CBN丨China to cancel inbound quarantine for international arr

您的浏览器不支持音频播放。

Hi everyone. I’m Stephanie LI.

大家好，我是主持人李莹亮。

Coming up on today’s program.

重点提要 

China has downgraded Covid management level and will end quarantine requirement for inbound travelers from Jan.8;

China updates 2021 GDP growth to 8.4%.

中国经济要闻

China will drop quarantine requirements for all passengers arriving from outside of the country’s borders starting on January 8, 2023, its top health authority announced Monday, in a major step toward opening up the country’s borders that have been largely shut for the last three years.

Travelers entering China from abroad will no longer need to apply for a Health Code from China’s embassies overseas, but they will still need to have a negative nucleic acid test result within 48 hours before departure, the health authority said. Upon arrival, travelers also don’t need to get tested. 

The country will also scrap all other restrictive Covid measures for travelers, including quarantines for positive patients and contact tracing. 

Authorities said the new policy is part of a new way China plans to manage Covid. China downgraded Covid management to a less-strict “Class B disease”, and will also call Covid an “infection” instead of “pneumonia.” The change is “more in line with the current characteristics and danger level of this disease,” the National Health Commission said in a late night statement.

The NHC also vowed to resume outbound tourism for Chinese citizens in an orderly manner, depending on the international Covid situation and the capacity of various domestic services.

Data from travel platform Qunar.com showed that search volume for international air tickets increased by 7 times within 15 minutes after the new policies were unveiled, while booking for international flights surged by five times within one hour, and most of flights will depart in mid-January to early February of 2023, with popular destinations being Thailand, Japan and South Korea. The search volume for overseas tour groups during the 2023 Spring Festival holidays jumped by six times, according to anther online platform Ctrip. 

The booking volume of international hotels has gradually increased since December. Among them, Macau, Hong Kong, and overseas countries with visa-free policies are the first choice for domestic tourists, according to data from Qunar.com. The booking for Philippines hotels has more than doubled. 

The demand for inbound flight ticket also spikes. The Alibaba-backed booking site Fliggy said Tuesday searches for inbound flight tickets reached its highest level in nearly three years. 

12月26日晚间，国家卫健委印发对新型冠状病毒感染实施“乙类乙管”总体方案的通知，宣布将新型冠状病毒肺炎更名为新型冠状病毒感染，同时自2023年1月8日起，解除对新型冠状病毒感染采取的《中华人民共和国传染病防治法》规定的甲类传染病预防、控制措施；新型冠状病毒感染不再纳入《中华人民共和国国境卫生检疫法》规定的检疫传染病管理。

通知提出，优化中外人员往来管理。来华人员在行前48小时进行核酸检测，结果阴性者可来华，无需向我驻外使领馆申请健康码，将结果填入海关健康申明卡。如呈阳性，相关人员应在转阴后再来华。取消入境后全员核酸检测和集中隔离。健康申报正常且海关口岸常规检疫无异常者，可放行进入社会面。

取消“五个一”及客座率限制等国际客运航班数量管控措施。各航司继续做好机上防疫，乘客乘机时须佩戴口罩。进一步优化复工复产、商务、留学、探亲、团聚等外籍人士来华安排，提供相应签证便利。逐步恢复水路、陆路口岸客运出入境。根据国际疫情形势和各方面服务保障能力，有序恢复中国公民出境旅游。

新政策对旅行消费的影响迅速显现。携程和同程平台数据显示，通知发布半小时内，平台热门海外目的地搜索量同比大涨10倍，出境（包含中国港澳台）机票、海外酒店搜索均达到三年来峰值。去哪儿平台数据显示，消息发布后15分钟内，国际机票瞬时搜索量增长7倍，热门目的地为泰国、日本和韩国。

去哪儿大数据研究院院长兰翔分析称，出入境政策调整有利于促进国际航班有序恢复，短期内出入境旅客量将会有所回升。随着出入境机票供需关系逐步正常化，将带动国际机票整体价格逐渐降低。日韩东南亚等航班数量多的航线，机票价格可能上涨。随着政策落地和航司运营能力的恢复，2023年暑期或将迎来出入境高峰。

各大OTA平台的搜索数据显示，多个疫情前大热的出境目的地，在2023年兔年春节时段的搜索热度开始显著增长。携程数据显示，中国澳门、中国香港、日本、泰国、韩国、美国、新加坡、马来西亚、澳大利亚和英国，成为搜索量增长最快的前十名目的地。春节出境跟团游产品的相关搜索量，猛涨6倍。

China's GDP increased 8.4 percent to 114.92 trillion yuan in 2021, according to the updated data of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday. The bureau has recently carried out the final verification of last year's GDP data and updated the number, which is up by 556.7 billion yuan compared with the preliminary number released in January, the bureau said on Tuesday.

2021年GDP最终核实同比增长8.4%：国家统计局27日发布关于2021年国内生产总值最终核实的公告，经最终核实，2021年，GDP现价总量为1149237亿元，比初步核算数增加了5567亿元；按不变价格计算，比上年增长8.4%，比初步核算数提高0.3个百分点。

Profits of China's major industrial firms declined 3.6 percent year on year in the first 11 months of the year, data from the NBS showed Tuesday. Industrial firms saw their combined profits reach about 7.72 trillion yuan in the period, the NBS said. "In November, industrial production slowed down, and the pressure on business operations increased due to factors such as the resurgence of the epidemic and the weak demand, but the profit structure continued to improve," said senior NBS statistician Zhu Hong. A total of 20 out of 41 major industries saw growth in profits in the period, up from 19 in the first 10 months.

前11月规上工业企业利润同比下滑3.6%：12月27日，国家统计局发布1-11月全国规模以上工业企业利润。数据显示，1—11月份，全国规模以上工业企业实现利润总额77179.6亿元，同比下降3.6%。其中，国有控股企业实现利润总额24049.7亿元，同比增长0.5%；股份制企业实现利润总额56412.0亿元，下降2.8%；外商及港澳台商投资企业实现利润总额18378.5亿元，下降7.8%；私营企业实现利润总额22636.9亿元，下降7.9%。国家统计局工业司高级统计师朱虹解释称，11月份，受疫情反弹和需求不足等因素影响，工业生产有所放缓，企业经营压力加大，但利润结构持续改善。

区域观察

Beijing plans to distribute Pfizer's COVID-19 treatment drug Paxlovid to community health centres in a bid to help treatment of key populations as the city's peak caseload approaches, media reported Monday. Paxlovid will be distributed to all community health centres, and community doctors will guide Covid patients to take the anti-viral treatment after taking a training session, said a document from the Beijing Municipal Health Commission. Staff at a local community health center in Beijing said they can accept reservation for the anti-viral drug, which is possibly priced at 2300 yuan a box and partly covered by the national health insurance.

北京社区医院配置辉瑞新冠药：继12月26日北京有社区卫生服务站向媒体证实，已收到参加抗病毒药物奈玛特韦/利托那韦片（Paxlovid）应用培训的通知，但药物还没有配送到之后，12月27日有媒体刊文，北京某社区卫生服务中心工作人员透露，目前其所在社区医院已接收到配送的Paxlovid，但数量极为有限。25日，网上流传一则消息称“北京将于近期统一将抗病毒药物奈玛特韦/利托那韦片（Paxlovid）配送至各社区卫生服务中心，由社区医生接受培训后，指导辖区内新冠患者服用进行抗病毒治疗”，并将在12月26日下午组织全市社区医生参加药物应用的紧急培训。有北京社区卫生服务机构表示可以进行预约，Paxlovid价格为2300元/盒，可以医保报销。 

A total of 5.98 million tons of cotton were produced nationwide in China in 2022, up 4.3 percent over the previous year, among which over 90 percent was produced in Xinjiang, official data showed on Monday. Xinjiang's cotton output increased 5.1 percent year-on-year to 5.39 million tons this year. It accounts for 90.2 percent of the nation's total output, up 0.7 percentage points over the last year.

新疆棉花产量占全国超九成：国家统计局26日公布数据显示，2022年，全国棉花产量597.7万吨，比上年增加24.6万吨，增长4.3%。其中新疆棉花产量539.1万吨，比上年增加26.2万吨，增长5.1%，占全国总量的90.2%，比上年提高0.7个百分点。

Chinese tech company Baidu Inc announced on Monday that a major expansion of its commercialized fully driverless robotaxi service in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, with an aim to build the world's largest fully driverless ride-hailing service area in 2023. Baidu is tripling the size of its operation area, increasing the number of robotaxis in service and expanding operating time to include key evening hours in Wuhan. It also plans to put an additional 200 fully driverless robotaxis into operation across the country next year. 

百度在武汉扩大无人驾驶服务规模：12月26日，百度宣布将在武汉大规模拓展全无人自动驾驶商业化运营，已实现扩区、提量、增时三个突破。与此同时，百度Apollo将在2023年内持续扩大业务规模，计划在全国范围内陆续增加投放200台全无人驾驶运营车辆。“萝卜快跑”在武汉的运营面积超130平方公里，覆盖人口达100万。全无人运营区域从军山新城扩充到武汉市经开区三环至五环，覆盖面积翻两倍。据了解，目前武汉市各类智能网联测试道路已突破400公里，位居国内前列。

产业及公司新闻

China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI) has said it will thoroughly reform its practices, after the database was slapped with a 87.6 million yuan fine, or 5 percent of its annual income in 2021, by the State Administration for Market Regulation for anti-trust behavior yesterday. CNKI laid out 15 ways yesterday in which it will overhaul its services, including slashing prices, protecting authors’ rights and relinquishing a monopoly on certain publications. It will cut charges for access to its database by more than 30 percent over the next three years.

知网公布15项整改措施：12月26日，国家市场监督管理总局认定知网构成《反垄断法》两项“滥用市场支配地位行为”，责令知网停止违法行为，并处以其2021年中国境内销售额17.52亿元5%的罚款，计8760万元。对此，知网方面回应称，诚恳接受，坚决服从。同时，知网宣布了整改独家合作、大幅降低服务价格等15项整改措施，其中包括用户的学术文献数据库服务实际成交价格三年内下调30%以上。