Dec. 29 (UPI) — Travelers from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau will need to submit a negative COVID-19 test before entering the United States starting Jan. 5, the Biden administration announced on Wednesday.
The new requirement comes as China is again gripped in another COVID-19 surge, reporting more than 250 million positive cases in the first 20 days of December.
Under the new rule, travelers older than 2 must submit a negative COVID-19 test taken within two days of departing for the United States. Nationality and vaccination status will not have any bearing on whether a test must be provided.
The policy also applies to travelers who have connecting flights in China. Passengers who tested positive 10 days before their flight can provide documented proof of recovery instead of a negative test.
Meanwhile, China continues to loosen its COVID-19 restrictions following public backlash over its push for zero cases, which included lockdowns. Starting on Jan. 8, travelers entering mainland China will no longer need to quarantine upon arrival, ending a practice that has been in place since March 2020.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that new variants of the COVID-19 virus are likely to emerge and go unidentified for longer due to China’s reduced testing and case reporting.
“Pre-departure testing and the requirement to show a negative test result has been shown to decrease the number of infected passengers boarding airplanes, and it will help to slow the spread of the virus as we work to identify and understand any potential new variants that may emerge,” the CDC said in a press release.
On Dec. 23, the U.S. State Department issued a level-three travel advisory for China, urging travelers to reconsider plans to visit the country “due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, and COVID-19-related restrictions.”
