CHICAGO: Following Beijing’s decision to lift strict zero-COVID policies, US health officials announced on Wednesday that the country will impose mandatory COVID-19 tests on travelers from China. These countries will join India, Italy, Japan, and Taiwan in implementing new measures.
The officials informed the media that, starting on January 5, all air passengers over the age of two will need a negative test result no more than two days before departing from China, Hong Kong, or Macao.
According to federal officials, passengers who test positive more than ten days prior to a flight may substitute documentation of recovery for a negative test result.
They said that the new policy was made because they didn’t know enough about SARS-CoV-2 virus variants and were worried that the rise in COVID cases in China might lead to the creation of new strains of the virus.
Additionally, Seattle and Los Angeles have been added to the voluntary genomic sequencing program that is being expanded at airports in the United States. This brings the total number of airports collecting positive test information to seven.
China began dismantling the world’s most stringent COVID regime of lockdowns and extensive testing this month in a sudden policy shift, setting its battered economy on track for a complete reopening next year.
The lifting of limitations, following boundless fights against them, implies Coronavirus is spreading generally unrestrained and possible tainting a great many individuals daily, as indicated by some worldwide wellbeing specialists.
Beijing has come under fire from around the world for not matching up the scale of its outbreak with its official COVID data and death toll.
“We only have limited information regarding the number of cases, hospitalizations, and especially deaths that are increasing.” Additionally, there has been a decrease in testing across China, making it challenging to determine the true infection rate,” a US health official told the briefing.
The official stated that US officials are concerned that there will be a large number of infections resulting in hospitalizations and deaths in China due to the large number of people in China who have not been exposed to the virus, the introduction of Omicron variants, and the rollback of China’s zero-COVID policies.
The virus could infect as many as 1 million people per day, according to some experts in global health, and international modeling organizations have predicted that China could see at least 2 million deaths.
This week, US officials considered imposing its own travel restrictions, citing “the lack of transparent data” from China, a persistent Washington complaint regarding China’s handling of the pandemic.
Throughout the pandemic, the approaches that the United States and China took to combating COVID were markedly distinct.
Beijing was able to make the case that its strict COVID prevention model had saved lives due to the high infection rates in the United States at the beginning of the pandemic.
China has struggled to vaccinate its elderly population and has not yet authorized mRNA vaccines from outside the country. According to data released by the Chinese government last week, although the country’s overall vaccination rate is greater than 90%, the percentage of adults who have received booster shots drops to 57.9% and to 42.3% for people aged 80 and older.
There are nine COVID vaccines developed in the country that have been approved for use; however, none of them have been updated to target the highly infectious Omicron variant.
US authorities told the preparation they have offered mRNA immunizations and other help to China, however Chinese authorities have said freely they needn’t bother with US help right now. ” One official stated, “We continue to stand by our offer.”
The requirement that individuals arriving in the country by air test negative for COVID-19 was lifted in June, after 17 months. To enter the United States, most non-US citizens still need to be immunized against COVID.
