The United Kingdom will now require Chinese travelers to present negative Covid-19 test results prior to boarding.
According to Reuters, the government on Friday said this while expressing concern about a lack of data from Beijing on its latest Covid surge.
It joins a number of other countries in demanding pre-departure Covid testing for travelers from China to Britain no later than two days prior to departure.
The regulation will be in effect as of January 5.
After almost three years, China has announced that it will lift strict restrictions on international travel beginning next week, despite an increase in instances and worries about the veracity of its statistics reporting.
The UK government said it would test “a sample of arrivals” to monitor for new variants.
It was stated that the action was “precautionary and temporary” and that it was brought about by “China’s failure to share full health information.”
The change will mostly affect England because there are no direct flights from China to Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland, but the government is working to ensure that the regulation is applied throughout the UK, according to the statement.
Health secretary Steve Barclay said the measures would allow “experts at the UK Health Security Agency to acquire early insight into potential novel strains circulating in China”.
