'Finally we are reconnected with world': Travelers rejoice as China reopens borders in final farewell to zero-Covid

China on Sunday finally opened its borders for the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and welcomed international travellers. 

The first flights under China's new "no quarantine" rules for international travellers landed at the airports in Guangzhou and Shenzhen in southern Guangdong province. Officials said that 387 passengers were aboard two flights from Toronto and Singapore on the day the country ended its strict zero-Covid policy.

"I'm so happy, so happy, so excited. I haven't seen my parents for many years," a Hong Kong resident said.

"I've been looking forward to the reopening for a long time. Finally, we are reconnected with the world. I'm thrilled, I can't believe it’s happening," said another.

China opened borders a day after the start of "chun yun", the 40-day period of Lunar New Year travel, which before the coronavirus pandemic was the world's largest annual migration.

Some 2 billion trips are expected this China's Lunar New Year travel season, nearly double last year's movement and recovering to 70% of 2019 levels.

The scrapping of the travel rules, however, comes at a time when China is battling a sudden spurt in coronavirus infections fuelled by the Omicron variants after the government relaxed its zero-Covid policy last month in the wake of widespread anti-Xi Jinping protests.

The country of 1.4 billion people is currently also witnessing overwhelmed hospitals and is bracing for a further spread into less developed areas with the start of the Lunar New Year travel rush.