Spain on Friday became the second country in the European Union to reinstate the requirement to present negative tests for COVID-19 or proof of vaccination with a full vaccination schedule against the disease for travelers arriving from China, the health minister said on Friday of Spain, quoted by the publication. Reuters and Agerpres.
China this month began easing the world’s toughest Covid-19 regime, which included quarantines and mass testing, after abruptly abandoning its zero-Covid-19 policy following unprecedented protests against the restrictions.
“At the national level, we will introduce controls at airports that will require all passengers arriving from China to present a negative test for COVID-19 or proof of a full vaccination schedule,” Spain’s Health Minister Carolina Darias told reporters.
The new measure comes after the EU’s Health Security Committee met on Thursday to discuss the European bloc’s joint strategy to mitigate the spread of the virus amid an influx of visitors from China after the Asian country lifted most travel restrictions.
Darias added that Spain will coordinate at a high level with other member states to adopt a common policy, while insisting on reviewing the current conditions that travelers who want to obtain the EU’s so-called digital COVID-19 certificate must meet.
Travel restrictions are being re-imposed for people arriving from China
On Wednesday, Italy became the first country in the European Union to reintroduce mandatory tests for travelers arriving from China.
“This measure is essential to ensure the surveillance and detection of possible (new) variants of the virus in order to protect the Italian population,” Italian Health Minister Orazio Scillacci said.
“Surveillance and prevention through sequencing are fundamental for the timely detection of possible new variants (of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus) that are currently not circulating in Italy,” he explained earlier. , when he announced that mandatory testing of people arriving from China was still under review.
South Korea, the United States, India, Malaysia, Taiwan and Japan have also taken this measure.
Chinese state media have categorized as “discriminatory” the conditions imposed by several countries in response to the increasing number of cases of COVID-19 infection in China.
Source: Hot News
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