From the BBC:
“China Covid: Spain, South
Korea and Israel tighten rules”
Spain is the second EU country to
announce Covid testing on visitors from China, following similar decisions in
Italy, plus the US and India. Arrivals can skip the tests if they are fully
vaccinated - and Spain does accept some Chinese vaccines. Beijing has announced
that it will fully reopen its borders next week for the first time since March
2020. Its current Covid surge has caused wariness, with reports of hospitals
filling up and waves of illness. The UK, South Korea and Israel also announced
new testing rules on Friday. "At the national level, we will implement
controls at airports and require travellers from China to present a negative
Covid test or be fully vaccinated," said Spanish health minister Carolina
Darias. On Thursday, the EU's disease prevention agency has said such measures
were not justified in Europe, because of the levels of immunity and the fact
that variants spreading in China were already present on the continent. The
World Health Organization, however, has said it was "understandable"
that some countries had decided to impose restrictions and urged Beijing to be
more forthcoming about its Covid numbers. China's foreign ministry said earlier
this week that its "epidemic situation" overall was "predictable
and under control". But the true toll of daily cases and deaths in China
is unknown as officials have stopped requiring cases to be reported, and
changed classifications for Covid deaths.
South Korean Prime Minister Han
Duck-soo said that travellers from China would need to have a negative PCR or
antigen test before boarding flights to South Korea. They will also need to
undergo a PCR test within the first day of their arrival in South Korea. Israel,
meanwhile, has ordered foreign airlines not to allow people to travel from
China unless they have tested negative - and asked its own citizens to avoid
unnecessary travel there. Not all countries have announced controls. Germany
has joined Australia, France, and Portugal in saying there will be no new rules
yet. However, Germany's health minister has said the country is seeking a
co-ordinated system to monitor variants across European airports. China's
decision this week to reopen its borders on 8 January marks the last stage of
the country's controversial zero-Covid policy, which President Xi Jinping had
personally endorsed. As the rest of the world transitioned to living with the
virus, Beijing maintained an eradication policy involving mass testing and
stringent lockdown. In November, the frustration spilled on to the streets in
rare protests against Mr Xi and his government. A week later, Beijing began to
roll back the restrictions.
^ Just a few days ago the US was
getting slammed for requiring Negative Covid Tests from anyone (Chinese,
American and everyone else) that has been to China within the past 10 days.
Today the UK, Spain, Israel and
South Korea now require Negative Covid Tests from China (Japan, Malaysia and
Italy already did.)
The Chinese Communist Government
was not forthcoming about Covid in 2019 or 2020 and let Millions of their
Citizens help spread it around the World killing 6 million Worldwide and over 1
Million in the US.
The Chinese Government have only
stopped their Zero Covid Policy because of protests calling for the overthrow of
the Communist Party. The Government didn’t stop things because the health situation
is better there.
It’s estimated that several
thousand Chinese a day are getting Covid (including new Strains) and that could
become a Million a day in January,
Any country that doesn’t take
steps now (like requiring Negative Covid Tests) from any person – Chinese or
their own Citizens – that have been to
China in the past 10 days deserves to have a major Covid Outbreak. This isn’t
2020 and so there’s no excuse to be stupid about Covid. ^
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