The UK, France and Spain have joined other countries, including India, to impose mandatory Covid-19 testing on passengers arriving from China. As more nations step-up measures against Chinese travellers amid rising infections, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has once again urged China to share more data on Covid-19 in the country.
A fresh surge of Covid-19 infections has been reported from China this month after Beijing revoked its strict zero-Covid policy following widespread protests against it. It included mass testing and isolation, and strict lockdowns even if only a few cases were reported. With lockdowns scrapped, cases started to rise again. The absence of herd immunity and the relative ineffectiveness of the vaccines in China are considered as possible causes for the fresh wave. After three years of being closed to the world, China will let people travel more freely from January 8, making countries wary of a Covid surge.
In a statement issued after talks with Chinese officials the UN health agency said: "WHO again asked for regular sharing of specific and real-time data on the epidemiological situation... and data on vaccinations delivered and vaccination status, especially in vulnerable people and those over 60." WHO also called on China to strengthen viral sequencing, clinical management, and impact assessment.
WHO stressed the importance of monitoring and the timely publication of data to help China and the global community to formulate accurate risk assessments and to inform effective responses.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Chinese mouthpiece Global Times called the restrictions 'discriminatory'. "The real intention is to sabotage China's three years of Covid control efforts and attack the country's system, the state-run tabloid said in an article.
Here are the travel restrictions in countries:
India: India has mandated a Covid-19 negative test report for travellers arriving from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand, the Union Health ministry stated earlier this week. Airlines have been directed to modify their check-in functionalities to incorporate the changes and issue boarding passes only to those international passengers travelling from the six countries who have submitted self-declaration forms on the Air Suvidha portal. The rule will come into effect from January 1.
US: The US has mandated mandatory Covid-19 tests for passengers arriving from China, Hong Kong and Macau from January 5. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this was needed "to help slow the spread of the virus as we work to identify... any potential new variants that may emerge".
France: Passengers from China need to provide a negative Covid-19 test result before boarding flights. The tests will have to be done less than 48 hours old before departure and will be required on direct flights from China and flights with stopovers, with random tests carried out on passengers on arrival.
UK: The Health Department has stated that said people travelling from China on direct flights from January 5 will be asked to take a pre-departure Covid test. From January 8, the UK Health Security Agency will also launch surveillance, which will see a sample of passengers arriving from China tested for the virus as they arrive, BBC reported.
