Travelers from China might want to check unfavourable for COVID-19 earlier than boarding flights to the U.S. beginning subsequent week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention introduced Wednesday. The testing requirement will apply to vacationers from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, and covers all passengers no matter their nationality or vaccination standing, the CDC mentioned.
The transfer comes amid a renewed wave of infections in China because it relaxed its “zero COVID” coverage in early December. The Chinese authorities has additionally begun to ease journey restrictions that had been imposed years in the past, early within the COVID-19 pandemic.
“CDC is announcing this step to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the United States during the surge in COVID-19 cases in the [People’s Republic of China] given the lack of adequate and transparent epidemiological and viral genomic sequence data being reported from the PRC,” the CDC mentioned in a assertion.
Beginning Jan. 5, airways can be required to gather proof of a unfavourable COVID-19 check from all passengers ages 2 and older earlier than they’ll board flights out of China into the U.S. Both lab-based PCR exams in addition to antigen self-tests can be accepted, so long as they’re overseen by a well being care supplier.
Travelers on connecting flights will even be required to supply proof of a unfavourable check.
People touring to the U.S. by way of South Korea’s Incheon International Airport, Canada’s Toronto Pearson International Airport, and Canada’s Vancouver International Airport can be required to check unfavourable if they’ve been in China over the past 10 days.
“These three transit hubs cover the overwhelming majority of passengers with travel originating in the PRC and the Special Administrative Regions. We will continue to monitor travel patterns, adjust our approach as needed, and keep Americans informed in a timely manner,” the CDC mentioned.
Federal well being authorities haven’t required unfavourable COVID-19 exams from any worldwide guests because the requirement was scrapped in June. The U.S. continues to require that every one overseas vacationers show they’re absolutely vaccinated with the main collection of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Officials mentioned Wednesday that they had been ready till subsequent week to impose the measure to permit for airways to implement the revived necessities.
“It does take some effort by the airlines to update their data systems to put this all in place. And so we have to make this announcement today, but it will take time to implement the program,” a federal well being official informed reporters at a briefing.
Officials first acknowledged Tuesday that they had been weighing the transfer, citing comparable measures put in place by nations like Japan. They additionally cited China’s personal guidelines for arriving worldwide vacationers, which proceed to require Americans and different overseas guests to check unfavourable.
“We’ve always believed that for all countries, COVID response measures need to be science-based and proportionate without affecting normal people-to-people exchange,” China’s overseas ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin informed reporters Wednesday forward of the U.S. announcement.
Concern over COVID variants
In addition to the brand new requirement, the CDC mentioned it’s transferring to broaden its present variant surveillance efforts to 2 new worldwide airports in Los Angeles and Seattle.
The company has already been monitoring variants over the previous few months noticed in voluntary exams collected from arriving worldwide vacationers.
A complete of some 290 weekly flights from China and close by nations can be coated by this system as soon as expanded, the CDC mentioned.
“We have very limited information in public databases about variants that are circulating in China presently. In the past few months, only about a hundred sequences have been uploaded,” mentioned the federal well being official.
They cited the risk the virus might pose because it infects an enormous swath of “immunologically naive” individuals in China.
All of the present variants circulating in China are descendants of Omicron, Chinese state media have reported, quoting their nation’s well being officers, with BA.5.2 and BF.7 dominating infections within the nation.
“What we’re concerned about is a new variant that may emerge actually in China, with so many people in China being infected in a short period of time, there is a chance or probability that a new variant will emerge,” mentioned the official.
Scientists have voiced frustration over sparse variant sequencing launched from China amid the nation’s present wave of infections, apart from a handful of vacationers.
All of the present variants circulating in China are descendants of Omicron, Chinese state media have reported, quoting their nation’s well being officers, with BA.5.2 and BF.7 dominating infections within the nation.
First noticed earlier this 12 months, these two strains have made up a fraction of circulating virus within the U.S. to this point. Instead, the CDC’s estimates rank the BQ.1, BQ.1.1, and XBB strains as far outpacing them across the nation.
Infections linked to XBB has surged throughout the Northeast in latest weeks, climbing to greater than half of recent infections throughout the area. Ahead of Christmas, federal information reveals hospitalizations reaching a few of the highest charges since final February within the Northeast.
Scientists consider a descendant dubbed XBB.1.5 is behind the renewed surge, with immune evasive mutations that seem to bind properly to human cells.