China’s Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Health Commission, General Administration of Customs, National Immigration Administration and National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention have jointly issued the notice for relaxing crew change management from 8 January.
According to the notice, changes or disembarking of crew from international voyage vessels at domestic ports will not need to undertake tests for Covid-19, as well as ending a requirement for quarantine.
Crew member from international-going vessels who are planning to complete a change at domestic ports only needs to do Covid-19 test 48-hours ahead of departure from the last port of call before entering into China. The healthy seafarers will not be quarantined and are free to leave and go home directly.
China has renamed the Chinese term for Covid-19 from novel coronavirus pneumonia to novel coronavirus infection, and as a result removed it from the quarantinable infectious disease management list.
China re-opened international travel on 8 January although a growing list of countries have added negative terst requirements for travellers from China over concern at the scale of Covid infection in the country after the government dropped its strict zero-Covid policy.
