Chinese state media said late Thursday that Covid-19 testing requirements imposed by several nations in response to growing infections in China were “discriminatory.”
China suddenly switched its stance on Covid-19 policy on December 7, after keeping its borders completely closed for three years and enforcing a stringent regime of lockdowns and continuous testing. However, since then, China has seen a new wave of infections across the country, raising concerns that it might lead to the emergence of new Covid strains, prompting many countries to reintroduce some travel restrictions against people traveling from China.
“The real intention is to sabotage China’s three years of COVID-19 control efforts and attack the country’s system,” state-run tabloid Global Times said in an article late on Thursday, calling the restrictions “unfounded” and “discriminatory.”
The United States, South Korea, India, Italy, Japan, and Taiwan are among the countries that have resumed Covid tests for visitors from China, with several expressing concern at the scale of the outbreak and skepticism about Beijing’s infection data.
From January 8, China will no longer require inbound travelers to undergo quarantine. However, it will still need a negative PCR test result within 48 hours before departure.
