Travellers from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau will need to take a COVID-19 test and get a negative result before flying to Australia from January 5.
Australian health minister Mark Butler said the new requirement was in response to the significant wave of COVID-19 infections in China and the potential for emerging viral variants there.“The decision to implement these temporary measures has been made out of an abundance of caution, taking into account the dynamic and evolving situation in China and the potential for new variants to emerge in an environment of high transmission,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Mr Butler said that a decision about whether it will be a RAT or PCR test would be made in coming days. At the end of 2022, 17,052 COVID deaths had been reported in Australia since the beginning of the pandemic, and 14,790 occurred last year alone. As at last Friday, 3599 people were in hospital with COVID, almost half of them in NSW.
Butler said his department is working with states and territories to monitor the situation in Australia very closely. Mr Butler said all people should stay up to date with vaccinations and all single people eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine should make an appointment as soon as they are eligible. Anyone who is eligible for oral anti-viral treatments should have a plan to access those if they test positive for COVID-19.
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