The abrupt end this month to China's 'zero Covid' policy as the country experiences an explosion in cases has sparked concern from several countries, including the United States, which will require travelers to test negative Chinese.

Beijing's announcement on Monday that the January 8 end of mandatory quarantines on arrival was greeted with joy by the Chinese.

This decision marks the imminent disappearance of the last vestige of the Chinese “zero Covid” policy which has isolated the country for almost three years and sparked demonstrations at the end of November on an unprecedented scale for decades.

It sparked a rush for international flights and ticket prices skyrocketed.

The news was received in a completely different way abroad, while China is facing the largest wave of contamination in the world, amplified by the appearance of new variants.   

In the United States, a health official announced on Wednesday December 28 that his country would require a negative Covid test for travelers arriving by plane from China.

From January 5, "all air travelers aged two and over coming from China will be required to take a test no more than two days before departure", regardless of nationality or vaccination status, the official said. sanitary.

Earlier, another official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "The international community is increasingly concerned about the current outbreaks of Covid-19 in China and the lack of transparent data, including genomic sequence data. viruses, communicated by the PRC" (People's Republic of China).

Other countries too

Japan has decided to reinstate compulsory PCR tests for travelers from mainland China from Friday.

The island of Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory, also announced that it would carry out virus checks on travelers from the mainland.

In Europe, Italy, hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, announced on Wednesday that travelers from China would be subject to mandatory testing.

In Paris, President Emmanuel Macron "requested appropriate measures to protect" the French from the government, which assured Wednesday "to follow very carefully the evolution of the situation in China".

In Brussels, the European Commission convened a meeting on Thursday to "discuss (...) possible measures for a coordinated approach" by EU states to the explosion of Covid cases in China.

“In light of the situation of the pandemic in China”, the European executive will convene a committee on Thursday bringing together representatives of the ministries of health of the Twenty-Seven, a spokesperson for the Commission told AFP.

The aim is to "discuss with member states and EU (health) agencies possible measures for a coordinated European approach", she said.

Submerged hospitals and crematoriums

Beijing's sudden reversal in health policy has ended nearly three years of mass testing, lockdowns and prolonged quarantines that have seriously disrupted the country's supply chains as well as China's economy, the world's second largest. .

Hospitals and crematoriums are overwhelmed as residents report shortages of fever medication as the spread of the virus among the 1.4 billion population remains largely unchecked.

Asked about the restrictions announced by Japan, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday called on states to maintain "scientific and appropriate" measures against Covid and which "do not disrupt" human exchanges.

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On Tuesday, the Chinese migration authorities also announced the gradual resumption of the granting of passports for "tourism" and "visits of friends abroad" from January 8.

This winter epidemic resumption comes a few weeks before the Lunar New Year at the end of January, during which millions of people will travel to find their loved ones.

"Impossible" to measure

Chinese authorities have acknowledged that the extent of the epidemic wave is now "impossible" to measure and have reduced the number of criteria for attributing a death to Covid.

The Chinese Center for Disease Prevention and Control on Wednesday listed 5,231 new contaminations and three deaths from the coronavirus nationwide, figures probably underestimated because the sick no longer need to declare themselves.

Authorities are using data gathered from online surveys, hospital visits, requests for fever medication and emergency calls to "fill in the gaps in the (official) numbers reported", it said on Tuesday. a disease control official, Yin Wenwu.

Faced with shortages of basic drugs, the Beijing authorities plan to distribute Paxlovid, an oral treatment, in local hospitals and community clinics.

With AFP

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