<div dir="auto" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">''<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;mso-fareast-font-family:times new roman;color:#222222">Chinese health officials said that the country is facingincreasing pressure to prevent inbound COVID-19 infections as the new Omicronvariant has become widely prevalent in some countries, once again shatteringthe dreams of thousands of international students and families waiting toreturn to China for the past two years. Mi Feng, a spokesperson for theNational Health Commission, said at a press conference on Wednesday that strictanti-epidemic measures should occur resolutely and decisively considering thatthe upcoming New Year and Spring Festival holidays will see more flows ofpeople, Chinese state news agency reported. Beijing is preparing to welcomethousands of overseas visitors to February's Winter Olympics but haseffectively banned its borders with stringent restrictions for internationaltravelers including students and separated families.<o:p /></span></p>''<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;mso-fareast-font-family:times new roman;color:#222222">As of Dec 28, "More than 1.2 billion people have been fully vaccinated inChina, accounting for around 85.6 percent of total population," Mi Fengadded. Students are baffled that no sort of logic either based on percentage offully vaccinated people in China or condition of full vaccination for incomingstudents nor any other requirement is working in their favor as they have lostprecious 2 years in the formative period of their life. China has not shown anyinterest in allowing international students to return except those from SouthKorea and few from the US.<o:p /></span></p>''<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;mso-fareast-font-family:times new roman;color:#222222"><br />''Beijing has followed a strict "zero Covid" strategy involving tightborder restrictions and targeted lockdowns since the COVID-19 pandemic firstemerged in Wuhan. China is insisting on its much touted 'Zero-COVID' policyeven as repeated outbreaks this year in different parts of the country threw aspanner in it and questioned the stringent restrictions imposed on its citizensand the ensuing uncertainty in social and economic life in the country. Manyexperts have spoken about the diminishing returns of this approach as fatiguehas set in.<o:p /></span></p>''<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;mso-fareast-font-family:times new roman;color:#222222">Despite a strict "zero Covid" strategy, China has seen many outbreaksthis year. In the current outbreak, which is the most serious outbreak thisyear, China has reported around 200 daily new cases for the last 5 days. Theseare in addition to more than 500 asymptomatic cases which China does notconsider as confirmed cases. NHC said 2,563 patients are still receivingtreatment, of whom 15 were in severe conditions. All these cases are adding togrowing concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant.</span><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>''<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;background:white"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;mso-fareast-font-family:times new roman;color:#222222">Chinese officials reported a case of Omicron on December 13 inTianjin city followed by a few more officially reported cases. However, thereis not much information about Omicron's spread in the country amid continuousconcerns expressed by officials about it.<o:p /></span></p><br />''</div>