Canada Announces COVID Travel Restrictions For Travellers From China, Hong Kong

The federal government in Canada has announced travel restrictions for air travellers arriving from mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau and stated that it will require a negative COVID-19 test for people arriving from these countries.

The new restricrtions comes amid a surge in COVID-19 infections after the country rolled back its stringent “zero-Covid” policy, according to Canadian-based Television Network CTV.

The new restrictions will come into effect from January 5, at which point travellers aged two and older will need to provide proof of a negative test before leaving for Canada.

Earlier, on Thursday, the United Kingdom government announced that travellers coming from China need to take Covid-19 pre-departure test. “From 5 January, people flying from mainland China to England will be asked to take a COVID-19 pre-departure test,” the UK government said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that France has also made covid test results mandatory for travellers from China within 48 hours before departure, Reuters reported citing health and transport ministries.
All the flights coming from China, including the stopovers, must have a Covid test and the travellers need to wear masks.

From January 1, France will carry out random PCR Covid tests on some travellers coming from China as the mandatory testing will take “a little while,” according to Reuters. Earlier, the United States (US) said that it will require all visitors from China to present a negative Covid-19 test result before boarding a flight to the country, CNN reported on Wednesday.

Through a telehealth service, the testing can be either PCR tests or antigen self-tests. “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,” the officials said, using the initials of the People’s Republic of China, according to Reuters.

India also made RT-PCR test mandatory for passengers coming from five countries including China.
In an interview with ANI, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said, “The RT-PCR test to be mandatory for international arrivals from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand. On arrival, if any passenger from these countries is found symptomatic or tests positive for Covid-19 infection, then he/she will be put under quarantine.”

Taking note of the rising cases of COVID globally, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday said that the Centre and States need to work in “tandem” and in a “collaborative spirit” as was done during the previous surges.

Meanwhile, Japan also imposed Mandatory testing for COVID-19 from December 30 upon arrival for travellers from China due to an increase in the number of confirmed cases there, the Kyodo news agency reported on Tuesday.

In November, China saw a record increase in local COVID-19 outbreaks. Due to the deterioration of the epidemiological situation, the authorities introduced partial lockdowns in some areas while also forcing their residents to undergo PCR testing on a daily basis.

In particular, starting from November 24, restrictive measures were tightened in a number of China’s major cities, including Beijing and Shanghai.