China will no longer require travelers coming from abroad to test negative for Covid-19 from Wednesday, a Chinese government source announced on Monday.
The measure includes both antigen and nucleic acid tests, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.
With this announcementOne of the last remnants of the ‘zero cases’ of the covid-19 policy has been put in place, although customs authorities have already stopped checking the test results of those arriving in the country in recent months. Airlines have also stopped asking for an on-board test.
Last December, China abolished its zero case policy of Covid-19, which included blocking cities for weeks or consecutive months whenever an outbreak was detected, and imposing a quarantine period of up to 21 days. abroad, in government designated hotels.
The restrictions resulted in a slowdown in activity in the world’s second-largest economy and were eventually dismantled, following rare protests in several cities across the country.
A study funded by the US government this month found that the abrupt dismantling of the strategy may have led to nearly two million additional deaths over the next two months. This figure far exceeds official estimates of 60,000 deaths, which were released a month after restrictions were lifted.
In January, the country lifted quarantine requirements for people arriving from abroad, and in recent months has gradually expanded the list of countries to which Chinese travel agencies can organize group visits and increased the number of international flights.
This month, China has included Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe, Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP) in a third set of destinations to which it will allow group tourism travel.
Portugal was included in an earlier batch last March, as were Brazil, France or Spain.
Source: DN
