The United States will impose mandatory COVID-19 tests on travelers from China, US health officials said on Wednesday, joining India, Italy, Japan and Taiwan in taking new measures after Beijing's decision to lift stringent zero-COVID policies.
Passengers who test positive more than 10 days before a flight can provide documentation of recovery in lieu of the negative test result, the federal officials said. FILE PHOTO
Passengers who test positive more than 10 days before a flight can provide documentation of recovery in lieu of the negative test result, the federal officials said. In an abrupt change of policy, China this month began dismantling the world's strictest COVID regime of lockdowns and extensive testing, putting its battered economy on course for a complete re-opening next year.
"We have just limited information in terms of what's being shared related to number of cases that are increasing, hospitalizations and especially deaths. Also, there's been a decrease in testing across China so it also makes it difficult to know what the true infection rate is," a US health official told the briefing.
Earlier this week, US officials cited "the lack of transparent data" from China, a persistent complaint from Washington about China’s handling of the pandemic, as a reason for considering its own travel restrictions. China has struggled to vaccinate its elderly population and has yet to authorize foreign mRNA vaccines. Its overall vaccination rate is above 90% but the rate for adults who have had booster shots drops to 57.9%, and to 42.3% for people aged 80 and older, according to Chinese government data last week.
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