The U.S. government announced on Wednesday (28th) that starting from January 5 next year, all passengers aged two or above from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, before flying to the United States, must submit a new coronavirus test no infection certificate within two days before departure, that is, a Covid-19 test negative before they can enter. The United States is the only country to take such measures after India, Japan, Italy and other places. U.S. officials also said that travelers who are diagnosed more than 10 days before departure can present a recovery certificate in lieu of virus test results.
That is to say, starting from January 5 next year, all passengers traveling from China to the United States will be required to take a new coronavirus test no more than two days before traveling and provide a negative test before boarding the plane. This test is applicable to anyone two years old and above. A number of other countries have introduced similar measures, with Japan set to require visitors from China to test negative for Covid-19 on arrival and Malaysia announcing new tracking and monitoring measures. India, South Korea and others require virus testing for tourists from mainland China.
Western media said that virologists are "nervously" following China's decision to lift the quarantine on overseas tourists from January 8 and resume the issuance of visas to foreigners and passports to its own people from the same day. At the same time, a spokesman for Downing Street said that the UK was not considering imposing travel restrictions on Chinese tourists.
Western media said, "As China ends its zero-covid policy, the number of cases surges, especially among the elderly, where vaccination rates are very low." As China stops publishing daily case numbers and ends mass testing, determining the spread and severity of the coronavirus is harder than ever. Professor Dominic Dwyer, an Australian infectious disease expert, said, "They went from a zero-COVID-19 attitude very quickly to a completely relaxed attitude, so it may have happened too fast to keep up." "We don't know which variants are currently circulating in China... (and) whether these variants respond differently to vaccination."
Some experts said that "the lack of data may mask the number and severity of cases." Neighboring countries are taking their own measures to prevent a surge in infections. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on Tuesday that from December 30, arrivals who have been to mainland China at any time in the previous seven days will need to provide a negative Covid test on arrival or quarantine for seven days.
It is reported that after relaxing border restrictions in October last year, Japan also began to limit the number of arrivals from China. Announcing the measures, Fumio Kishida said: "Concerns within Japan are growing as it is difficult to grasp the specific situation."
An Australian government spokesperson told the Guardian that while the Department of Health "continues to monitor the global situation, there are no changes to travel arrangements for Australians and tourists".
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, called for the sharing of data and relevant research to help the world understand which new coronavirus variants are spreading. Dwyer said the data was crucial because in countries where Covid-19 was out of control, with so many infections, it was more likely that a rare event would cause the virus to , which could raise new concerns. "In this environment, you would expect new variants to emerge," Dwyer said. "So it's going to be very important to monitor sick people returning from China. We don't know ... whether these variants (in China) are any different from what we're seeing elsewhere."
remarks on Western countries, Wang Wenbin, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made it clear on Wednesday: "The current development of China's epidemic situation is generally expected and controllable." He also added, "Hype, smear and political manipulation with ulterior motives cannot stand the test of facts." "The international community sees this very clearly and will not be dictated by them."
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