China to drop quarantine requirement for overseas visitors

Eight days of isolation will no longer be needed, and officials say citizens' ability to travel will be slowly restored

China will drop Covid-19 quarantine requirements for passengers arriving from abroad from 8 January, its National Health Commission has announced in the latest easing of the country's once-strict virus-control measures.

Currently, arriving passengers must quarantine for five days at a hotel, followed by three days at home. At one stage there was a requirement to quarantine for three weeks.