China’s General Administration of Customs abolishes health declaration requirement for mainland entry

China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC) announced Tuesday that it will abolish the health declaration form for entry into the country, with anyone entering the country no longer required to submit a health declaration card as of 1 November 2023.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, health declaration and nucleic acid tests have been required for entry into mainland China. However, following relaxation of the mainland’s anti-pandemic measures on 8 January this year, the submission of health declaration cards will not be required.

This means that entry and exit from foreign countries, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan into and out of mainland China will revert to the pre-pandemic situation.

However, GACC pointed out that those who have symptoms of infectious diseases such as fever, cough, difficulty in breathing, vomiting, diarrhoea, skin rash, unexplained subcutaneous haemorrhage or others, or those who have already been diagnosed with an infectious disease, are still expected to take the initiative of declaring their health condition to the Customs Department upon entering the country.