The US will require a negative Covid-19 test for travelers from China to enter the country

America to enter the country Negative covid-19 tests A All air travelers from ChinaA local federal health official announced on Wednesday, accusing Beijing of not sharing enough information about the rise in coronavirus cases there.

from January 5 “All air travelers aged two years or older born in China must undergo a test two days before departure from China, Hong Kong and Macao, and show a negative result to airlines upon departure,” the official said. said. This action includes transfers at any US airport.

Those passengers who give Positive Further 10 days before the flightThey can present Documents They would give an account of their illness and what they passed through Recovery Instead of a negative conclusion, officials added.

This recent decision by the United States, Returning requirements of international travelerswhich Joe Biden It was completely removed last June. After that, the CDC continued to recommend pre-travel PCR tests for people boarding flights to the country.

“The recent rapid increase in the spread of Covid-19 in China is increasing Potential for new variations to emerge”, added the official as justification for the move and pointed to the cases they filed against the Chinese regime and the new strains circulating in the country.

“Accordingly Lack of data availability “It is very difficult for public health officials in the United States to identify new variants that are spreading to a North American country,” he said.

Also, in advance Lunar New Year -It starts on January 22- the country expects High travel season China, which is resuming the issuance of tourist passports for the first time since the pandemic, is expecting a large influx of travelers from Beijing.

Italy Performance ordered Swabs for covid-19 antigen tests and sequencing of the virus for all Passengers from ChinaAs the cases continue to rise, the Health Minister said on Wednesday.

Italy, which was the first country to be hit by the virus in Europe in February 2020 after it emerged in China, is now First, mandatory tests should be imposed on Asian nationalsIt faces a new wave of infections.

Milan’s main airport, Malpensa, has already started screening passengers from Beijing and Shanghai on December 26. One of the two passengers was injured.

“This measure is necessary to monitor and detect possible variants of the virus in order to protect the Italian population,” said Minister Horacio Schillaci, announcing the mandatory screening of all travelers.

The minister did not say what measures would be imposed on travelers who tested positive, but said local health chiefs for the Lombardy region around Milan and the Lazio region around Rome must remain in quarantine in buildings approved by local health authorities.

Chinese hospitals and funeral homes came under severe pressure on Wednesday as the COVID-19 outbreak strained their resources, while doubts over the scale of the outbreak and official data led some countries to consider new travel rules for Chinese visitors.

Japan From 31st December a Travelers arriving from mainland China have tested negative for Covid-19when Taiwan From January 1, testing will be conducted from China.

On the first flight to Malpensa, 35 of the 62 passengers from China were tested positive for Covid-19, Lombardy’s health chief Guido said on Wednesday. Bertolaso ​​said 62 of the 120 on the second flight tested positive.

He said viral sequencing procedures had been carried out to analyze the variants and results were expected on Thursday.

(With information from Reuters)

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