People waiting within the arrivals area of Terminal 5 at Heathrow International Airport.
Carlos Barria | Reuters
LONDON — The UK and France said on Thursday morning that they currently don’t have any plans to reintroduce mandatory Covid-19 testing or additional requirements for travelers entering the country.
It comes as several countries announced recent measures in response to China easing Covid restrictions amid suspected spikes in infections but limiting national testing. Beijing on Monday dropped its quarantine policy upon arrival, prompting many to book their first overseas trips in years.
Italy, the middle of the initial outbreak in Europe in early 2020, on Wednesday became the primary country within the region to announce that mandatory antigen swabs will probably be required for all travelers arriving from China.
In line with la Repubblica, on a December 26 flight from China to Milan Malpensa Airport, 52% of passengers tested positive for Covid.
European Union health officials were locked in talks on Thursday to attempt to coordinate a response.
“From a scientific perspective, there isn’t any reason to reintroduce border controls at this stage,” said Brigitte Autran, head of the French Committee on Foreign Affairs.
German and Austrian officials on Wednesday also appeared reluctant to introduce recent restrictions.
But Italy’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases has reportedly called for more testing for people arriving from China. “It might be higher if the supervision coordination took place on the European level,” said the institute. in accordance with the interpretation of the Ansa news agency.
“Italy can’t be the one country to perform anti-Covid checks at airports for people arriving from China,” Italian Transport Minister Matteo Salvini said on Twitter, in accordance with Google translation.
He added that he’s in touch with Adina Vălean, the EU Commissioner for Transport, and calls for checks and possible restrictions across Europe to avoid an influx of Covid cases from incoming passengers.
The United States said that effective January 5, all arrivals from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau must present a negative Covid test taken inside two days before departure.
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India would require a negative test for passengers arriving from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand, and passengers will probably be quarantined if they test positive or show symptoms of Covid. Japan will conduct post-arrival testing for passengers from mainland China, Reuters reported.
While the UK government has said there are no plans to reintroduce Covid testing or additional requirements for newcomers to the country, it said it might monitor the situation until Thursday.
It could announce a policy change, especially if a wave of other European countries reintroduces testing.
Officials cited the shortage of published information from China on recent variants as a reason for strengthening precautions.
Beijing says its latest outbreak is attributable to a highly infectious but less deadly variant of omicron. Nevertheless, the shortage of information and the country’s record of obfuscation have led many countries to take a cautious approach.