BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese government has blasted COVID-19 testing requirements for passengers arriving from China and threatened countermeasures against countries involved, including the United States and several European countries.
“We believe that the entry restrictions adopted by some countries targeting China lack scientific basis, and some excessive practices are even more unacceptable,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said in a briefing on Tuesday. daily.
“We strongly oppose attempts to manipulate COVID measures for political purposes and will take countermeasures based on the principle of reciprocity,” she said.
The comments were China’s sharpest yet on the issue. Australia and Canada this week joined a growing list of countries requiring travelers from China to take a COVID-19 test before boarding their flight, as China battles a nationwide coronavirus outbreak after abruptly easing restrictions that were in place for much of the pandemic .
Other countries, including the US, UK, India, Japan and several European countries, announced stricter COVID-19 measures for travelers from China amid Concerns over lack of data on infections in China and fears of the possibility that new variants can emerge.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has defended the tests. From Wednesday, anyone traveling from China to France will be required to present a negative virus test taken within the previous 48 hours and be subject to random testing upon arrival.
“We are in our role, my government is in its role, to protect the French,” Borne told France-Info radio on Tuesday.
The UK will require passengers arriving from China to take a COVID test before boarding the plane from Thursday. Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the requirement was to “gather information” because Beijing does not share coronavirus data.
Health officials will test a sample of passengers when they arrive in the UK, but no quarantine is required for those who test positive, he said.
“The policy regarding arrivals from China is mainly about collecting information that the Chinese government does not share with the international community,” Harper told LBC radio station on Tuesday.
The Swedish Public Health Agency said on Tuesday it had urged the government to require travelers from China to present a recent negative COVID-19 test.
The agency’s statement comes as Sweden, which has taken over the rotating EU presidency, has called a meeting of the EU crisis management mechanism on Wednesday in Brussels, where travel restrictions will be discussed in a bid to agree a common line.
The Swedish government “is preparing to be able to introduce travel restrictions. At the same time, we are conducting a dialogue with our European colleagues to achieve the same rules as possible in the EU,” Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer said in a statement.
Austria also plans to test wastewater from all planes arriving from China for new variants of the coronavirus, the Austrian news agency reported on Tuesday, following a similar announcement from Belgium the day before.
Chinese health officials said last week they had submitted data to GISAID, a global coronavirus data-sharing platform.
The versions of the virus fueling infections in China “look very similar” to those seen in different parts of the world between July and December, GISAID said on Monday.
Dr. Gagandeep Kang, who studies viruses at Christian Medical College, Vellore in India, said information from China, although limited, seemed to suggest that “the pattern was holding” and that there was no sign of the emergence of a disturbing variant.
Mao, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said health authorities recently held a video conference with the WHO to exchange views on the current COVID situation, medical treatment, vaccination and other technical issues, and agreed to continue technical exchanges to help end the pandemic. as soon as possible.
A senior Hong Kong official also criticized the measures taken by some other countries. Some countries have implemented requirements for passengers arriving from Hong Kong and Macao, two semi-autonomous Chinese territories, as well as mainland China.
Hong Kong Chief Secretary Eric Chan said in a Facebook post that the government had written to various consulates on Monday expressing concerns about the “unnecessary and inappropriate” rules.
Some Canadian experts have questioned the effectiveness of the tests. Kerry Bowman, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Temerty School of Medicine, said people can test positive long after they enter the country.
The requirement is “not based on science at this stage”, he said after Canada announced measures last weekend.
China, which for most of the pandemic adopted a “zero-COVID” strategy that imposed severe restrictions aimed at eradicating the virus, abruptly relaxed these measures in December.
Chinese authorities have previously said that from January 1. 8, overseas travelers would no longer need to self-quarantine upon arrival in China, paving the way for Chinese residents to travel.
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Associated Press writers John Leicester in Paris, Sylvia Hui in London, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen and Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
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