Amount of travelers entering, exiting China dramatically increases

The number of people and transportation vehicles entering and leaving the Chinese mainland has increased significantly since the implementation of the optimized COVID-19 prevention and control measures on Jan 8, according to the National Immigration Administration.

As of Tuesday, immigration authorities inspected about 39.72 million people entering or exiting the Chinese mainland, up 112.4 percent year-on-year, and checked about 2.5 million times for inbound and outbound vehicles, boats, planes and trains, up 59.3 percent year-on-year, it said.

Immigration authorities across the country issued about 3.36 million passports to Chinese citizens, up 1220.9 percent over the period before implementing new policies, it said.

During the period, they also issued 12.67 million certificates for travel to and from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, up 837.7 percent, and 122,000 visas and residence permits for foreigners, up 33.1 percent.

Lin Yongsheng, spokesman of the NIA, said that since the implementation of the optimized policies, the number of entry-exit flow and the application for entry-exit documents has risen sharply, due to the steady increase of international passenger flights and the resumption of personnel exchanges between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao.

Immigration authorities will continue to improve the working plan and measures to meet the increased entry-exit needs and promote exchanges between Chinese and foreign personnel, he said.