US Says Travelers From China Need to Show Negative COVID Test

This story has been updated with new developments. As China prepares to drop most COVID restrictions for incoming travelers, the US is bringing in new restrictions for travelers from China. Officials announced Wednesday that starting Jan. 5, all air passengers from China, Hong Kong, and Macao will be required to present negative COVID tests before entering the US, the New York Times reports. The CDC said testing will be required regardless of passengers' nationality and vaccination status. The CDC said COVID cases in China are surging and "the lack of adequate and transparent epidemiological and viral genomic sequence data," along with reduced testing, could "delay the identification of new variants of concern if they arise," per NPR.

Before Wednesday's announcement, officials told NBC that the US and other countries are worried that Beijing might not be reporting data needed to assess the spread of potential variants of concern. "There are mounting concerns in the international community on the ongoing COVID-19 surges in China and the lack of transparent data, including viral genomic sequence data, being reported from the PRC," officials in Malaysia said, announcing new tracking measures.Japan, India, and Taiwan have also announced new restrictions on travelers from China, and Italy announced Wednesday that it plans to bring in mandatory COVID testing for all arrivals from the country, the BBC reports. Japan said flights from China would be limited and people who tested positive on arrival would be sent to quarantine for a week.

Analysts say COVID case numbers in China have exploded since "zero COVID" policies were dropped, but Beijing has stopped publishing daily case counts. China plans to drop mandatory quarantine for arriving travelers on Jan. 8. The rule had applied to Chinese citizens returning from overseas visits as well as foreign travelers, and the announcement of the new policy this week led to a massive surge in travel bookings, the New York Times reports. Millions of people are expected to fly out of China during the Lunar New Year holiday in late January. Many airlines are adding new flights to China, with Singapore Airlines bringing back its Singapore to Beijing route for the first time since 2020. China announced Tuesday that it will resume issuing passports to its citizens after a pause of almost three years, the AP reports. (More China stories.)