New Delhi: The Covid-19 epidemic is once again wreaking havoc in China. As a result, travelers coming from China are now facing restrictions from more than a dozen countries. Recently, a new country, Australia, has been added to the list, which has made a Covid negative report mandatory for travellers arriving in its country.
Last month, three years after the coronavirus first emerged in Wuhan city, Beijing suddenly began reversing its “zero Covid policy” of lockdowns and testing. Since then, corona cases have been increasing rapidly in China.
The fury of Covid can be clearly seen in hospitals and crematoriums in China. In recent times, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have also made it mandatory for travellers arriving from China to have a negative Covid report.
Canada cites “limited epidemiological and viral genomic sequence data available” on recent Covid cases in China for a negative Covid report
Meanwhile, Morocco on Saturday banned all people coming from China. The World Health Organization called the precautionary measures “understandable” given the lack of information about the outbreak from Beijing.
The European branch of the Airport Council International – which represents more than 55 airports in 500 European countries – said the restrictions were not appropriate or risk-based.
European countries will meet next week to discuss a joint response to the issue, with incoming EU presidency holder Sweden calling for “a common policy for the entire Europeans Union to introduce potential entry restrictions”.
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen said on Sunday that she was “ready to provide the necessary assistance based on humanitarian concerns,” but did not specify what kind of aid could be given to Beijing.