A traveller wearing a protective suit walks outside Beijing Railway Station as the annual Spring Festival travel rush starts, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, in Beijing, China, on January 7, 2023. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
New York: Countries from around the world are stepping up measures to shield their populations from the Covid-19 outbreak in China that comes as a more transmissible variant of the virus boosts infections globally.
Portugal has joined the roster of European nations that will require a negative Covid-19 test for passengers from China, while Germany is discouraging all non-essential travel to the country. Thailand, bracing for a wave of Chinese tourists, will reintroduce entry requirements for foreigners arriving by airplane.
The response comes as China tackles a surge in virus cases triggered by the dismantling of its strict Covid Zero restrictions in recent weeks. At the same time, the emergence of a highly transmissible variant - already on track to become the dominant strain in the US - is fanning concerns over new mutations.
So far there haven’t been significant differences in severity identified between cases caused by the new XBB.1.5 and those from other variants. The World Health Organization is planning an updated assessment on its risks in the coming days.
China has yet to report any domestic cases of the variant that’s been found in at least 28 other nations. South Africa was among the latest to join the list.
In Europe, countries including Belgium, Sweden and the UK have announced new requirements on travelers from China. The European Union on Wednesday "strongly encouraged” members to adopt pre-departure Covid testing, recommended masking on flights and urged wastewater checks.
Portugal’s testing requirement will take effect from Sunday. In addition, passengers and crew traveling to and from China must use a face mask during the flight, and Lisbon’s airport will undertake wastewater monitoring to identify the virus and carry out genomic sequencing.
In Thailand, adults must show proof of at least two vaccinations or recovery from the virus since July from Monday. India introduced mandatory Covid-19 tests this month for fliers from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand.
