The United States will begin reimposing obligatory COVID-19 checks for all air vacationers from China, authorities introduced Wednesday.
From Jan. 5, “all air passengers two years and older originating from China will be required to get a test no more than two days before their departure from China, Hong Kong and Macau, and show a negative test result to the airlines upon departure,” a federal well being official mentioned.
“The recent rapid increase in Covid-19 transmission in China increases the potential for new variants emerging,” the official advised reporters in a cellphone briefing.
However, the official mentioned, Beijing has offered solely restricted knowledge about circulating variants in China to world databases, and testing and reporting on new instances has additionally diminished.
“Based on this lack of available data, it’s harder for US public health officials to identify new variants spreading to the United States,” the official mentioned.
“The United States is taking deliberative proactive steps to protect Americans’ public health, and be on alert for any potential Covid-19 variants emerging,” the official mentioned.
The new requirement will fall into place simply after midnight U.S. Eastern Time on Jan. 5, or 0500 GMT.
The take a look at requirement applies to air passengers no matter nationality and vaccination standing and consists of individuals touring to the United States from China through third nations, in addition to these touring by way of the United States to different nations.
