US among other countries announce COVID restrictions for Chinese travelers

BEIJING - As China has started easing restrictions for its citizens, the international community seems to be moving in reverse imposing fresh restrictions on the travelers visiting from China.

Japan, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy and the U.S. have announced testing requirements for passengers arriving from China, with the most important player being the US, citing increase in infections and what it considers a lack of transparency from the Chinese government to be a reason.

"These data are critical to monitor the case surge effectively and decrease the chance for entry of a novel variant of concern," the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Starting Jan 5, 2023: Travelers flying to U.S. from China, or who have been in China in the past 10 days & are flying from certain airports, must show a negative #COVID19 test taken within 2 days before #travel to the US or documentation of recovery. https://t.co/VSJz2W6kPT pic.twitter.com/J9DujizieA

— CDC (@CDCgov) December 28, 2022

The testing at US airports would start from Januray 5 and apply to travelers regardless of their nationality and vaccination status.

Moreover, Wang Pi-Sheng, the head of Taiwan’s epidemic command center expressed concerns on the transparency regarding the pandemic situation in China; the country would also will start testing from January 1.

Japan has also joined the bandwagon and regulations that restrict flights from mainland China to designated airports begin on Friday; Italy has also started testing for all passengers arriving from China.

China's arch-rival India has also announced that people arriving in the country from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand will have to show a COVID-19 negative test report from January 1st. Philippines, the United Kingdom and Australia are monitoring the situation and have not announced testing for Chinese passengers. 

On the other hand, Germany seems to have a soft stance on the matter. German Health Ministry spokesperson Sebastian Guelde said officials there have 'no indication that a more dangerous variant has developed in this outbreak in China,' but added that the situation was being monitored. 

On the other hand, China has raised concerns about the restrictions. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Thursday that many countries have not changed their policies for travelers from China and said that any measures should treat people from all countries equally.