During the last ten days of April 2023, COVID‑19, which had been quiet for some time, once again became a trending topic online.

On 20 April 2023, Zhang Wenhong delivered a public speech titled COVID‑19 Reinfection, reaffirming his earlier prediction for the year: if the COVID‑19 virus mutates, secondary infections will gradually emerge after six months, generally on a small scale. However, if viral mutations can effectively break through prior human immunity, a second wave of infection will form.

At a press conference of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council on 26 April 2023, the National Disease Control and Administration stated that “the pandemic has seen a slow uptick in some regions recently.”

On 28 April 2023, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention released an estimate that more than 82% of China’s population had been infected with COVID‑19 between December 2022 and February 2023, though no related death toll was released.

Meanwhile, mainstream Chinese media cited forecasts from the China Tourism Academy that the number of tourists during the May Day holiday would reach 240 million, exceeding the level recorded in the same period of 2019.

Since China announced the relaxation of entry‑exit policies in early January 2023, the overseas study market in China has recovered and rebounded. Industry insiders believe overseas education has entered the “post‑pandemic era”, meaning the pandemic is no longer a major factor affecting overseas study.

Starting from 29 April 2023, inbound travellers only need to take a self‑administered antigen test before boarding, and airlines will no longer check nucleic acid test certificates.

Naturally, the future trajectory of the domestic COVID‑19 pandemic remains uncertain. The pandemic development in the United Kingdom can serve as a reference.

After the full lifting of restrictions in the UK on 19 July 2021, the country suffered a severe resurgence in early 2022, with daily new confirmed cases far exceeding the pandemic peaks in 2020 and 2021. Even so, the death toll remained very low at that time, leading to no severe consequences, and the reopening policies were not rolled back.

According to the latest official data, 80% of China’s population has previously been infected with COVID‑19. If a second wave arrives, its impact on overseas study can be negligible as long as the mortality rate stays low.