US CONSIDERS NEW COVID RULES FOR TRAVELERS COMING FROM CHINA AMID COVID SURGE

Wed 28 December 2022:

Authorities in United States is considering entry restrictions for Chinese visitors, as officials express concern about a lack of transparency about the country’s biggest COVID-19 outbreak.

“There are mounting concerns in the international community on the ongoing COVID-19 surges in China and the lack of transparent data, including viral genomic sequence data, being reported from the PRC,” US officials said on Tuesday, local time, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

The lack of genomic data makes it “increasingly difficult for public health officials to ensure that they will be able to identify any potential new variants and take prompt measures to reduce the spread,” the US officials said.

The remarks follow the increase of measures for arrivals from China by Malaysia, Japan, and India due to a rise in cases.

Following the relaxation of China’s extremely strict “zero-COVID” policy, the number of infections has increased nationwide, prompting US officials to express concern about the possibility of the release of new variants.

After Beijing announced on Monday that the COVID quarantine requirement will no longer be in place starting on January 8, many people in China rushed to book their international travel.

Beijing authorities have acknowledged that the outbreak is “impossible” to track and have done waya much-maligned case tallies, as well as narrowing the criteria used to count COVID fatalities.

While authorities have officially reported only a few COVID deaths in recent weeks, hospitals and funeral homes in China have been overwhelmed as the virus spreads largely unchecked across the 1.4 billion-person country.

The foreign ministry of Beijing stated on Tuesday that countries should uphold “scientific and appropriate” disease controls that “should not affect normal personnel exchanges”.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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