The United States on Wednesday announced new coronavirus testing needs for all travelers from China, joining other countries imposing restrictions due to infections.
The cases across China follow the country’s cancellation of strict virus controls. The government’s “zero COVID” policies had kept China’s infection rate low, but fueled public frustration and crushed economic growth.
The new U. S. requirements, which begin Jan. 5, apply to travelers regardless of nationality and vaccination status.
In explaining the tests, the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the evidence was not available. U. S. officials cited the rise in infections and what they said was a lack of good enough and transparent data from China, adding genomic sequencing of virus strains circulating in the country.
“This knowledge is critical to properly track the backlog of cases and reduce the chances of access to a new variant of concern,” the CDC said.
Some scientists worry that the COVID-19 outbreak in China could also release a new variant of coronavirus around the world that may or may not be similar to those circulating lately. In fact, infection is another possibility for the virus to mutate. .
“What we need is a variant between Array. . . in the U. S. “It is “in the U. S. and spreads as we’ve noticed with Delta or Omicron,” said Matthew Binnicker, director of clinical virology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
But the CDC’s action would likely be less about preventing a new variant from crossing U. S. borders. More than expanding pressure on China to provide more information, said Dr. David Dowdy, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, adding that he hopes the restrictions “don’t stay longer than they should. “
“I don’t think it has a primary effect on slowing the spread of COVID-19,” Dowdy said. “We already have a lot of COVID-19 transmission here within our borders. “
Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University, agreed that China is not sharing enough data on genomic sequencing. But he also said he EE. UU. es a little complacent about sequencing and wants to redouble his efforts. CDC also announced the expansion of an early precaution program that screens volunteers at selected airports for new and rare variants of the coronavirus. This program will expand the airports of Seattle and Los Angeles.
According to the new U. S. rules, people traveling to the U. S. U. S. citizens from China, Hong Kong and Macau will be required to conduct a coronavirus check no later than two days before and provide a negative check before boarding their flight. The control applies to any 2 years of age and older, adding U. S. citizens.
It will apply to other persons travelling from China through a third country and to those who have connecting flights in the United States to other destinations. Anyone who tests positive more than 10 days before the flight can provide documentation showing that they have recovered from COVID-19 from a negative screening result.
It will be responsible for verifying negative tests and recovery documentation before boarding passengers.
Other countries have taken steps in an effort to prevent infections from spreading beyond China’s borders. Japan will require negative coronavirus control upon arrival of travelers from China, and Malaysia has announced new tracking and surveillance measures. India, Italy, South Korea and Taiwan require virus verification for visitors from China.
The Lunar New Year, which begins on Jan. 22, is generally China’s busiest season, and China announced Tuesday that it will resume issuing passports for tourism for the first time since the pandemic began in 2020.
“We look forward to welcoming Chinese travelers to the United States,” U. S. said.
The action of the EE. UU. es a return to the needs of some foreigners. The Biden administration lifted the last of the terms in June. At the time, the CDC continued to advise others to board flights to the U. S. They were tested some time before departure time and not if they were sick.
“We have this before. We can do it again,” Dowdy said.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the U. S. The U. S. government banned foreigners from China from entering China weeks after the virus emerged three years ago, and dozens more countries were added to the list. ERS to be vaccinated and tested.
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