Beijing - Global concerns that new variants could emerge from China’s explosive outbreak of Covid-19 sparked travel mandates by the U.S., Japan and others. COVID-19 tests for passengers arriving from China was mandated by many due to a growing worry that the country may not inform the rest of the world quickly enough of new variants.
So far there have been no reports of new variants from China to date. The country’s track record however shares a popular anxiety that China may not be sharing data on any signs of evolving strains that could spark fresh outbreaks elsewhere.
The U.S., announced a negative test requirement Wednesday for passengers from China, citing both the surge in infections and what it said was a lack of information, including the genomic sequencing of the virus strains in the country.
Wang Pi-Sheng, the head of Taiwan’s epidemic command center, said Thursday that authorities will start testing everyone arriving from China on Jan. 1. ahead of the expected return of about 30,000 Taiwanese for the Lunar New Year holiday later in the month.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed a similar concern about a lack of information when he announced a testing requirement for passengers from China earlier this week.
Malaysia put in place additional tracking and surveillance measures. The Philippines is also considering imposing tests.
Britain however said it has no plans to bring back COVID-19 testing for those coming into the country, a government spokesperson said on Thursday, in contrast to a growing list of countries mandating tests for travellers from China.
The World Health Organization said it needs more information on the severity of the outbreak in China, particularly on hospital and ICU admissions “in order to make a comprehensive risk assessment of the situation on the ground.”
India, South Korea, Taiwan and Italy have also announced various testing requirements for passengers from China. German health authorities are monitoring the situation but have not taken similar pre-emptive steps.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said last week that China has always shared its information responsibly with the WHO.
China rolled back many of its tough pandemic restrictions earlier this month, allowing the virus to spread rapidly in a country that had seen relatively few infections since an initial devastating outbreak in the city of Wuhan in early 2020.
In China, the spiraling infections have led to shortages of cold medicine, long lines at fever clinics, and at-capacity emergency rooms turning away patients. Cremations have risen several-fold, with a request from overburdened funeral homes in the southern city of Guangzhou for families to postpone funeral services until next month.
China, a country of 1.4 billion people, reported three new COVID-related deaths for Tuesday, up from one for Monday. However, these numbers are inconsistent with what funeral parlours are reporting, as well as with the experience of much less populous countries after they re-opened.
Chinese state media has not reported this widely and blamed Western media for hyping up the situation.
AP reoprted that China was controlling dissemination of its internal research on the origins of COVID-19 in 2020. A WHO expert group said in a report this year that “key pieces of data” were still missing on the how the pandemic began and called for a more in-depth investigation.
-Ap/Reuters