Thailand will not impose stricter quarantine measures on arrivals from China, its government said Thursday, even as some countries such as Japan have moved to require them to undergo coronavirus testing upon arrival amid a surge in cases in China.

"We insist on the principle that no discriminations should be made against any one country because there is still a pandemic in every country and with similar variants," Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said. "COVID-19 should not be the grounds for exclusion for any country."

People walk with their suitcases through a departure lobby of Beijing Capital International Airport on Dec. 27, 2022. (Kyodo)

From Sunday, China will reopen borders and abandon quarantine measures for arrivals from abroad, with its government saying outbound tourism for Chinese citizens will be resumed "in an orderly manner."

Thailand is banking on tourism-related spending to revive its economy. The kingdom has revised upward the number of foreign tourists it expects to see this year from 20 million to 25 million, with about 300,000 Chinese tourists projected for the first three months of the year.

Since December, China has rolled back its strict "zero-COVID" measures and stopped counting the exact number of patients. The drastic change has caused a surge in virus cases across the country.

That has in turn led to concerns that soaring COVID-19 cases there could drive the emergence of new and potentially more dangerous variants of the coronavirus.

The countries and regions that have imposed stricter requirements for arrivals from China include Britain, Japan, Malaysia, Morocco, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States.


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