The U.S. will require travelers from China to submit a negative Covid-19 test beginning Jan. 5, federal officials said.
The U.S. is concerned about the rapid spread of the virus that causes Covid-19 in China, which increases the potential for new variants, health officials said Wednesday. The officials said that China has provided limited surveillance data regarding the surge and that officials have declined U.S. offers to provide additional vaccines. Countries including Japan and Malaysia have also recently imposed restrictions on travelers from China.
Starting at midnight on Jan. 5, travelers 2 years old and older flying to the U.S. from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau will be required to get tested for Covid-19 no more than two days before departure, officials said. Passengers must present negative test results from either a PCR or rapid antigen test monitored by a healthcare provider, officials said. Travelers from China who are transiting through the U.S. must also present a negative test before arrival, officials said.
Officials in China have removed most of the strict preventive protocols they maintained throughout the pandemic.
As the virus spreads more widely, fever medications have been in short supply, patients have inundated hospitals and crematoria have been flooded with bodies, employees and relatives of people with the disease said.
The Biden administration has pressed China to share Covid-19 surveillance data more transparently, a senior administration official said.
Relatively high rates of Covid-19 vaccination and prior infection in the U.S. could reduce potential public-health risks posed by the surge in China, virologists said. But the possibility for new variants to emerge from such widespread infection could pose fresh challenges, said Wafaa El-Sadr, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University.
“The low uptake of the most recently recommended booster vaccine dose leaves…
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