According to US sources, the country is exploring Covid entrance limits for Chinese visitors after Beijing substantially lifted tough containment measures last month.
As important foundations of China’s containment strategy have been removed, the number of infections has risen, leading US authorities to express concern over the possibility of the release of new strains.
After Beijing announced on Monday that the mandatory Covid quarantine for visitors from other countries will no longer be in effect starting on January 8, many people in China hastily began making travel arrangements.
“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 US officials said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
Beijing officials have eliminated the much-maligned case tallies, narrowed the criteria under which Covid fatalities are reported, and recognized that it is “difficult” to track the outbreak.
But it is the lack of genomic data that has sparked particular concern abroad, making it “increasingly difficult for public health officials to ensure that they will be able to identify any potential new variants and take prompt measures to reduce the spread,” the US officials said.
The United States “is following the science and advice of public health experts, consulting with partners, and considering taking similar steps” to countries such as Japan and Malaysia, which have announced public health measures to counter the spread of Covid from China.
China’s relaxation of regulations effectively ends the zero-Covid system of extensive testing, lockdowns, and lengthy quarantines that have disrupted supply lines and hampered economic interactions with the second-largest economy in the world.
Beijing’s foreign ministry said Tuesday that countries should uphold “scientific and appropriate” disease controls that “should not affect normal personnel exchanges.”
