New Delhi: Following China's announcement to reopen its international borders next month, the United States is considering imposing new Covid restrictions on travellers from China to the country.




As per a Reuters report citing US officials, this is due to a "lack of transparency data" surrounding the virus in China, as cases surge. 





"There are mounting concerns in the international community on the ongoing COVID-19 surges in China and the lack of transparent data, including viral genomic sequence data, being reported from the PRC," the officials said.

 

Recently, Japan, India and Malaysia announced they will impose new measures on travelers from China in the last 24 hours, citing a rise in infections there, news agency ANI reported.

 

Mansukh Mandaviya, the Union Health Minister, announced on Saturday that travellers arriving from five countries, including China, will now be required to do the RT-PCR test.


“The RT-PCR test to be mandatory for international arrivals from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand. On arrival, if any passenger from these countries is found symptomatic or tests positive for Covid-19 infection, then he/she will be put under quarantine,” Mandaviya told ANI.


Recently, on Tuesday, Japan also mandated Covid-19 testing for visitors from China beginning from December 30 owing to an increase in the number of cases there, ANI reported citing Kyodo news agency.




China is witnessing a record surge of Covid cases nationwide brought on by the Omicron strains. It is by far the country’s biggest outbreak since the pandemic began in the central city of Wuhan three years ago in 2019.


On Friday, media reported that about 37 million people in China could have contracted Covid-19 on a single day last week, making the country’s outbreak the largest in the world.



Earlier, on Sunday, the Chinese top health authority, the National Health Commission (NHC), said that it will no longer publish daily Covid data. 


(With inputs from agencies)