The UK and France have joined India, the United States and a host of other countries in imposing mandatory Covid tests for travellers from China as the World Health Organisation urged Beijing to provide more data and regular updates on the alarming coronavirus situation after scrapping the zero-Covid policy.
Passengers arriving from China to England from January 5 will need to show a negative Covid pre-departure test (PDT) taken no more than two days prior to departure. Although there are no direct flights from China to Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, the government said it was working with the regions to ensure this is implemented UK-wide as soon as possible.
The UK government said these steps are “precautionary and temporary” measures to further improve the country’s ability to detect potential new variants from China. India, the United States, Japan, Italy and Taiwan have announced mandatory testing of Chinese arrivals. France, Spain, South Korea and Israel also require proof of a negative test for arrivals from China. Days after Italy began testing arrivals from China, it was found that 50 per cent of passengers tested positive for Covid at Milan airport, indicating the spread of infection in China. The health authorities are sequencing the Milan tests to see if there are new variants. If a new strain is found, officials may impose stricter curbs on travel from the country. China has termed its Covid data “transparent” even though official figures from China have become unreliable due to less testing. Amid criticism over stopping daily Covid count, Chinese officials and World Health Organisation experts on Friday exchanged views on the current Covid situation. WHO again asked for regular sharing of specific and real-time data on the epidemiological situation — including more genetic sequencing data, data on disease impact including hospitalisations, ICU admissions and deaths —and data on vaccinations delivered and vaccination status, especially in vulnerable people and those over 60 years old,” the global health agency said in a statement.
WHO also called on China to strengthen viral sequencing, clinical management, and impact assessment, and expressed willingness to provide support in these areas.
