China has reopened its borders to international visitors for the first time since imposing a travel ban in March 2020.
Incoming travelers will no longer need to quarantine - a significant change in the country's Covid policy as it grapples with a surge in cases.
They will still need proof of a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours of travel.
The move has been welcomed by many eager to reunite with family.
In Hong Kong, 400,000 people are expected to travel to mainland China in the coming weeks, with long queues for flights in cities including Beijing and Xiamen.
On Sunday, double-decker coaches packed with passengers arrived on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge to catch buses to Guangdong province - among them college students returning home.
One man told the BBC he hadn't seen his extended family in five years and couldn't hold back his excitement after buying a ticket back to China.
One woman told news agency Reuters she had not seen her parents for years - despite one of them being diagnosed with colon cancer - and said she was "very happy".
The country's reopening comes at the start of "Chun Yun," the first period of the Lunar New Year journey. Before the pandemic, it was the largest annual migration of people returning home to spend time with family around the world.
Two billion trips are expected this Lunar New Year, which is double the number of trips last year.
Li Hua, who traveled from the UK to China - where her family lives - for the festival said it had been "too long" for her to be back, "I am very happy to be back, and breathe the Chinese air. So happy, so happy".
But some worry that opening borders will lead to a greater spread of COVID-19.
Some local bus drivers on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge told the BBC they are worried they could get the virus from arriving passengers, and want their companies to provide them with more protection.
China had one of the strictest COVID health policies in the world over the past three years, which saw multiple lockdowns, frequent testing requirements and had a significant impact on the country's economy.
The government recently rolled back that policy following massive protests across the country, after a fire at a skyscraper in the Xinjiang region killed 10 people. Many Chinese believe that long-standing COVID restrictions have contributed to the deaths, but officials deny this.
Hospitals and cremation grounds have been overburdened since China abandoned key elements of its COVID-19 policy, but the country stopped publishing its case numbers and reported only two deaths on Saturday Is.
The same day, the Chinese government banned more than 1,000 social media accounts critical of its handling of the virus.
The anticipated surge in cases and travel out of China has prompted several countries, including the UK, to impose requirements for a negative COVID-19 test on people arriving from China, reflecting the willingness of the Chinese government.
Source link bbc news
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