The United States, Canada, Japan and France are among more than a dozen countries that have imposed restrictions on travelers from China.
China called the international assembly travel restrictions from its “unacceptable” territory after more than a dozen countries imposed new coronavirus curbs on visitors to the world’s most populous nation.
The United States, Canada, Japan and France are among the countries insisting that all travelers from China provide negative COVID-19 tests before arrival, due to growth versus an increase in cases.
The sharp rise in infections in China comes after Beijing abruptly lifted its zero COVID policy in December, which quickly overtook hospitals and crematoriums.
Nevertheless, Beijing has pushed forward With a long-awaited reopening heralding the end of mandatory quarantine on arrival last week, in a move that has prompted Chinese to plan trips abroad.
“Some countries have imposed entry restrictions targeting only Chinese travellers,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said during a regular briefing on Tuesday.
“It lacks a scientific basis and some practices are unacceptable,” she added, warning that China could “take countermeasures based on the principle of reciprocity.”
However, when asked about China’s reaction, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne defended the new rules.
“I think we are doing our duty by asking for tests,” Borne told franceinfo radio. “We will continue to do so.”
The rules imposed affect all travelers from China, not just Chinese nationals, while Beijing continues to restrict inbound visitors and not issue visas to tourists or international students.
Countries including the United States have also cited Beijing’s lack of transparency on infection data and the risk of new variants as reasons for restricting travellers.
China has recorded just 22 COVID deaths since December and has dramatically reduced the criteria for classifying those deaths, meaning Beijing’s own statistics on the unprecedented surge are now widely seen as not reflecting reality.
Virus overwhelms Shanghai
As health workers across the country battle a rise in cases, a senior doctor at one of Shanghai’s top hospitals says 70% of the megacity’s population may now have been infected with COVID-19 , state media reported on Tuesday.
Chen Erzhen, vice president of Ruijin Hospital and a member of Shanghai’s COVID expert advisory group, estimated that the majority of the city’s 25 million people may have been infected.
“Now the spread of the epidemic in Shanghai is very wide, and it may have reached 70% of the population, which is 20 to 30 times than [in April and May]he told Jiangdong Studio, owned by Communist Party spokesman People’s Daily.
In other major cities, including Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing and Guangzhou, Chinese health officials suggested the wave had already peaked.
Concerns have also been raised about the near-term growth prospects of the world’s second-largest economy, leading to volatility in global financial markets.
Tuesday’s data showed Chinese factory activity shrank at a faster pace in December.
Last month, shipments from Foxconn’s iPhone factory in Zhengzhou, disrupted by worker layoffs and unrest amid a COVID outbreak, accounted for 90% of the company’s initial plans.
A “bushfire” of infections in China in the coming months is expected to hurt its economy this year and lower global growth, International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said.
“China is entering the most dangerous weeks of the pandemic,” analysts at Capital Economics warned.
Mobility data suggests economic activity was depressed nationwide and would likely remain so until infections subsided, they added.
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