The United States of America, on Wednesday, joined India, Italy, Japan and Taiwan in announcing the mandatory requirement of Covid-19 tests for travellers from China, Hong Kong and Macau.
The US also issued a travel alert on Wednesday advising Americans to “reconsider travel to China, Hong Kong, and Macau” and citing “reports that the healthcare system is overwhelmed” along with the risk of new variants, reports Reuters.
Among the countries that have said they will not impose any additional travel restrictions as for now, are Australia, Germany and Thailand.
Earlier this month, China abruptly changed its policy and brought one of the strictest Covid-19 regimes of lockdowns and extensive testing to an end. This followed widespread protests in the country.
Here is a quick look at what the US decision means…
What is the requirement? All air passengers, two years old and older, will require a negative result from a test no more than two days before departure from China, Hong Kong or Macao.
When does it kick in? Starting January 5, 2023.
How does it affect travellers from the Middle East? None of the Middle East countries have been put in travel risk category, so residents can travel to the US without any mandatory requirements. It still requires most non-US citizens to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to travel to the United States.
What if someone was infected recently? Passengers who test positive more than 10 days before a flight can provide documentation of recovery in lieu of the negative test result.
What about the Covid-19 vaccines in China? It has nine domestically-developed Covid-19 vaccines approved for use, but none has been updated to target the highly infectious Omicron variant. The country is yet to authorise foreign mRNA vaccines.
Why is the US singling out China? The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the step was taken “given the lack of adequate and transparent epidemiological and viral genomic sequence data being reported” from the country.
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