Recently, at least a dozen countries have imposed restrictions on travellers from China because of an uptick in the number of cases in the country. The growing list now includes Australia and Canada which require a negative test result for all passengers from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao.
Meanwhile, France, on Sunday began testing passengers from China to track them for potential Covid variants, said the country’s Health Minister, Francois Braun. Additionally, they also must present a negative PCR test result, or a rapid antigen test taken 48 hours before their flight.
“This control on arrival is not a control to prevent citizens entering our territory but a more scientific control which will allow us very precisely to check different variants,” said Braun, as per AFP.
In Australia, health minister Mark Butler, on Sunday, citing Beijing’s “lack of comprehensive information” about COVID-19 cases in their country, now requires travellers from China, Hong Kong and Macao to produce a negative Covid test. Similarly, Canada is asking travellers from China to show a negative Covid test taken not more than two days before their departure.
Meanwhile, Qatar became the first gulf country, on Monday, also joined the list and made Covid test mandatory from Tuesday regardless of vaccination status, as per state news agency QNA. This also comes after countries including the United States, India, Italy, Japan, and South Korea have mandated Covid tests for travellers from China.
China has reportedly witnessed a rise in the number of cases which has partly been attributed to Beijing’s sudden backtrack from its stringent ‘zero-Covid’ policy, following country-wide protests. Several reports suggest that hospitals across China have been overwhelmed by this sudden increase in the number of infections. On Saturday, Beijing reported 7,000 cases and one death but the number is feared to be much higher.
Last week Beijing’s state media called these mandates “unfounded” and “discriminatory”. Subsequently, World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the measures “understandable” given the lack of information from China. He also called upon Beijing to give detailed data on the severity of the disease, hospital admissions and intensive care requirements from China citing their concern over the recent surge of Covid infections.
(With inputs from agencies)
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