US considers imposing new Covid-prevention rules for travelers from China

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The United States is considering imposing new COVID-19 measures for people traveling from China.
• Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday that the U.S. is concerned about the recent surge of cases in China.
• China has not been transparent about the Covid cases in the country, raising questions form other countries.

The U.S. government is considering new Covid precautions for people traveling from China following the recent surge of cases in the Asian country, Bloomberg reported. According to officials, the administration is concerned about the outbreak in China, raising questions about the country’s transparency of data and reporting about the spread of the virus.

In Japan, a negative Covid-19 test is now required from travelers from China upon arrival at the airport. Malaysia has sorted to implement new tracking and surveillance measures. Officials said the U.S. is considering similar measures as a way to prevent global spread. 

Discontent with Covid Zero sparked protests in China, leading authorities to move rapidly toward ending those policies and three years of self-isolation from the rest of the world. Yet the speed of those changes has seen infections surge. 

China has announced it will no longer subject inbound travelers to quarantine starting Jan. 8. People arriving in China will only be required to obtain negative test results within 48 hours of departure, the country’s National Health Commission said in a Monday statement.

At the same time, China is experiencing the world’s largest Covid-19 outbreak, raising concerns among public-health officials worldwide. Almost 37 million people may have been infected with the virus on a single day last week, according to estimates from the government’s top health authority. 

US officials said they were considering new travel precautions based on consultations with public health experts and international partners. They said the talks have been prompted in part by concerns over the lack of genomic sequencing data that could help identify the emergence of a new variant. 

Health experts are concerned that the virus’s uncontrolled spread could spawn a deadly new variant for the first time since the omicron strain caused infections to surge from late last year until early this year.

China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention told the People’s Daily in a Tuesday interview that it will reduce Covid case reporting from daily to monthly.

Source: Bloomberg