Following a decrease in COVID cases in China, the CDC has affirmed the decision.
The required COVID testing for visitors from China will soon end in the United States. According to the most recent sources, the US will relax the embargo with other nations following a decline in COVID cases in China during the past few weeks.
CDC will stop testing for COVID in China.
According to Reuters, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has verified that it will remove the requirement that all visitors from China submit to mandatory COVID testing before entering the US.
Following a recent COVID outbreak in China, the US had brought back testing for visitors from that country in January. Since then, the number of instances has decreased enough enough for nations worldwide, including the US, to abandon the testing requirements for travelers coming from China.
On Wednesday, the CDC said in a statement, “Public health measures were put in place to safeguard American residents and communities as we sought to both identify the scale of the (China COVID) surge and obtain a better understanding of the variations that were circulating.”
It further said that although testing will stop, instances in China and around the world would still be monitored. The CDC will also keep up its genome sequencing program, which entails keeping an eye on aircraft from China and other nations as well as regional transportation hubs, at a few airports.
Adopting the list
The US now joins the group of countries that have loosened or eliminated COVID-related rules for travelers from China. Beginning on March 1st, Japan stopped randomly testing visitors arriving from mainland China and only examines chosen samples.
India also ceased requiring all travelers from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand, and Japan to present a negative test result before to departure in February. The EU nations also made the decision last month to gradually eliminate the COVID-related criteria for travelers from China.
Health experts from the member states came to the decision to first stop requiring tourists to have negative pre-departure COVID tests by the end of February and then stop randomly testing travelers from China by the middle of March.
All eyes are on China
Airlines from all over the world are eager to start operating flights to China once the country has emerged from the pandemic’s shadow. As China begins to eliminate COVID-19 travel restrictions, Emirates stated in January that it would boost the number of weekly flights it operates to China.
Virgin Atlantic will restore its London (LHR)-Shanghai (PVG) route on May 1st. British Airlines and Virgin Atlantic have also confirmed their comeback to mainland China. British Airlines expects to resume service on its LHR-PVG route on April 23 and to resume service on its LHR-Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX) route in June.
Japan Airlines’ Executive Officer and China leader, Yasuyuki Sato, recently added that the airline anticipates transporting more Chinese tourists in 2023.
