UK, France to require COVID-19 tests for arrivals from China

The United Kingdom and France are set to require negative COVID-19 tests for travelers arriving from China, according to media reports on Friday.

The BBC reported that the UK was getting ready to announce mandatory testing, while other British newspapers like The Telegraph reported that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had weighed in to take the step. 

Travelers on airplanes arriving from France will have to wear masks. But there is no official word on the timeline for either the UK or France to impose the new measures.

Spain, South Korea and Israel announced earlier Friday they would introduce COVID test requirements for Chines travelers too.

Malaysia on Friday it would screen all international arrivals from China for fever as well.

Why are countries imposing checks for Chinese arrivals?

China is easing travel restrictions that it had since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic despite a surge in cases. 

Beijing's move prompted the US, Italy, Japan and other countries to impose checks on arrivals from China. 

US health officials were quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency that they were also considering sampling wastewater from international aircraft to track any emerging new variants. 

Italy has called for EU-wide checks, but the bloc's health agency said it saw such measures as unjustified, arguing that the situation in China was unlikely to affect Europe with its high levels of immunization. 

Not enough information 

China had said it would no longer release an official daily COVID death toll. The country also stopped mass testing and reporting asymptomatic cases, sparking concerns that the official data is likely not an accurate representation of the situation. 

While issuing its guidance on the negative test requirement, Spain cited a lack of information on China's part about COVID infections in the country. 

"There exists a shared concern internationally and nationally over the evolution of cases in China and the difficulty to make a correct evaluation of the COVID-19 situation given the scant information that we have available,'' Health Minister Carolina Darias told reporters. 

Darias added that Madrid would push for similar checks across the EU on travelers arriving from China. 

"In the absence of comprehensive information from China, it is understandable that countries around the world are acting in ways that they believe may protect their populations," said World Health Organization (WHO)chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 

Chinese media slam 'discriminatory' measures

Chinese state media, meanwhile, have criticized the growing number of countries requiring negative COVID tests from travelers from China.

"The real intention is to sabotage China's three years of COVID-19 control efforts and attack the country's system," state-run tabloid Global Times said in an article late Thursday. 

Global Times called the restrictions "unfounded" and "discriminatory."

Until now, China has required all passengers arriving from abroad, including Chinese nationals, to quarantine for five days at a hotel, followed by three days at home.

The country of 1.4 billion people reported on Thursday one death linked to the coronavirus. But a UK-based health data firm, Airfinity, estimated around 9,000 people in China were likely dying each day of COVID. 

rm, fb/jcg (AFP, AP, Reuters)