PremiumDue to an apparent surge in covid infections in China, the European nations have enacted stricter COVID-19 regulations for travelers arriving from China, NHK World reported.
Amid Covid surge in China, the European nations have enacted stricter COVID-19 regulations for travelers arriving from China, news agency ANI has cited NHK World report.
The UK government unveiled new regulations on Friday for passengers taking direct flights from the Chinese mainland to England.
"From 5 January, people flying from mainland China to England will be asked to take a COVID-19 pre-departure test," the UK government said in a statement.
The French government also declared on Friday that it would demand a negative test result acquired within two days of departure from Chinese air travelers. The regulation is anticipated to go into force as soon as January 1.
All flights departing from China, even those with stopovers, would be subject to the test, according to the officials. On those flights, all passengers are required to board wearing masks, according to NHK World.
The Spanish government declared on Friday that visitors from China must have a negative test result or immunization documentation.
A UK-based health data firm Airfinity had said around 9,000 people in China are probably dying each day from Covid-19.
As per the report, cumulative deaths in China since December 1 likely reached 100,000 with infections totalling 18.6 million. It says it uses modelling based on data from Chinese provinces before the recent changes to reporting cases were implemented. Airfinity expects China's Covid infections to reach their first peak on January 13 with 3.7 million cases a day.
That is in contrast to the several thousands of cases reported by health authorities a day, after a nationwide network of PCR test sites was largely dismantled as authorities pivoted from preventing infections to treating them. Airfinity expects deaths to peak on January 23 around 25,000 a day, with cumulative deaths reaching 584,000 since December.
Since December 7 when China made its abrupt policy U-turn, authorities have reported 10 COVID deaths.
No just European countries, India too has made made RT-PCR test mandatory from 1 January for passengers coming from five countries including China. These countries include China, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea, Thailand and Japan.
The airlines have been asked to modify their check-in functionalities from January 1, 2023, to incorporate the changes and issue boarding passes only to those international passengers travelling from these countries who have submitted self-declaration forms on the Air Suvidha portal.
Taking note of the rising cases of COVID globally, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday said that the Centre and States need to work in "tandem" and in a "collaborative spirit" as was done during the previous surges.
Earlier, the United States too had announced that it would require all travelers from China to show a negative COVID-19 test result before flying to the country as Beijing’s rapid easing of COVID-19 restrictions leads to a surge in cases.
When the US imposed requirements for travelers from China to show negative test results, it also expanded a program that collects voluntary samples from international passengers at airports to help monitor variants entering the country. On Saturday, Canada said travelers from China, Hong Kong and Macau will need to produce a negative covid test, while Morocco went even further with a ban on visitors from China. As per the Canadian guidelines, people will need to provide a negative COVID-19 test result to the airline, taken no more than two days before their departure, before boarding a flight to Canada. The test can be either molecular, such as a PCR test, or an antigen test from a telehealth service or an accredited laboratory or testing provider, the release said. Passengers who tested positive more than 10 days before their flight leaves, but not more than 90 days, can provide the airline with proof of their positive test instead.
Japan too had imposed mandatory testing for COVID-19 from December 30 upon arrival for travelers from China due to an increase in the number of confirmed cases there, the Kyodo news agency reported on Tuesday.
The measure applies to travelers from mainland China and those who visited it within the past seven days. They are required to take a COVID-19 test upon their arrival in Japan. Those who test positive will be quarantined for seven days.
The Kyodo news agency said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced the decision on Tuesday.
In a press briefing on Thursday, Jiao Yahui, head of the Bureau of Medical Administration under the National Health Commission said, "China has always been publishing information on COVID-19 deaths and severe cases in the spirit of openness and transparency."
In the press conference, she noted that the criteria for judging Covid-19 deaths are divided into two categories.
Jiao said that some countries count only cases of people with positive nucleic acid test results after getting infected with the novel coronavirus and dying of respiratory failure induced by the virus, according to Xinhua.
"Since 2020, the COVID-19 death criterion we are adopting in China has been the first kind," Jiao explained, saying that China counts a death from respiratory failure caused by the novel coronavirus after a positive COVID-19 test as a COVID-19 death.
World Health Organization too had urged China's health officials to regularly share ‘specific and real-time’ information on the Covid-19 situation in the country as it still continues to assess the latest surge in infections, according to the news agency Reuters.
In November, the country saw a record increase in local COVID-19 outbreaks. Due to the deterioration of the epidemiological situation, the authorities introduced partial lockdowns in some areas while also forcing their residents to undergo PCR testing on a daily basis.
In particular, starting from November 24, restrictive measures were tightened in a number of China's major cities, including Beijing and Shanghai.
(With inputs from agencies)