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March 29, 2024
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England suspends COVID test

People flying into England from mainland China won’t have to show proof that they had a negative Covid test before leaving as of the end of next month.

The change will happen on April 5, three months after the new rules went into effect.

After Beijing relaxed its “zero-Covid” policy, the number of cases increased, so ministers put controls in place.

The government said that they were taken away because China had become more open.

The Department of Health and Social Care said that “testing, vaccination, and genomic sequencing results” show more about how many diseases there are in China.

The data show that the different types of Covid seen in China “continue to be the same as those already operating in the U.K.,” the report said.

The statement also said that the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention had said that all areas had passed their peak of infections.

The DHSC also said that the U.K. Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) program to test travelers from China who arrive at Heathrow airport on their own has ended.

The temporary testing plan was put in place in January. The government said it wanted to help find possible new variants to improve Covid’s surveillance of people coming from China to London’s main airport.

The government said that an average of 99 people per flight, which is 3,374, were tested.

There were 14 positive cases during that time, but none of them have been called a “variant of concern.”

The DHSC said that as of Friday, March 17, “passengers 18 or older who arrive at Heathrow Airport from mainland China will no longer be asked to take a voluntary Covid test.”

The end of this increased surveillance is similar to what other countries, like the E.U., are doing to keep an eye on new variants coming from China.

Officials said that the government would keep several “backup” plans in place to find and deal with any new harmful variants quickly and effectively.

In December, ministers confirmed that people flying from China to England must show a negative Covid test before getting on their flights.

At the time, the Chinese government said there were about 5,000 cases a day, but analysts said that number was way too low and that there could have been as many as a million cases a day.

Testing was also done in places like the US, France, and India.

The decision only affected airports in England, but the government said that even though there are no direct flights from China to Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland, it worked with the devolved administrations to make sure the policy was followed everywhere in the U.K.

China let foreigners into the country for the first time since March 2020, when it stopped letting people in. Later that same month, officials said that the current wave of Covid-19 infections in the country was “coming to an end.”

On December 25, China’s National Health Commission stopped putting out news about Covid cases and deaths. This happened after it relaxed its “zero-Covid” policy and called the pandemic a “decisive victory” in February.

The U.S. ends Covid test for Chinese travelers

People will find it easier to fly from China to the U.S. now.

Special Covid testing rules for people traveling from China and its administrative areas, which were put in place on January 5 during a big outbreak of cases in China, were lifted at 3 p.m. E.T. on Friday, according to a news release from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A source told CNN earlier this week that the CDC order might be canceled as soon as Friday.

This means that people flying to the United States from China, Hong Kong, Macau, and a few other airports won’t have to take a pre-flight test and get a negative result or show proof that they just got over Covid-19.

In a news release on Friday, the CDC said that the order was made because there were “concerns that Covid-19 cases were on the rise in the People’s Republic of China.”

Why doesn’t the order work anymore?

The CDC said it is now more certain that things have gotten better in China.

According to the release, epidemiological data from global data sets and modeling results show that the PRC’s Covid-19 surge has returned to normal.

Read Also: Security guards at Heathrow to go on strike

The CDC also said that there had been no scary changes in China.

The agency said it would work with other agencies “to keep an eye on travel patterns” between China and the U.S. and “change its approach as needed.”

Rochelle P. Walensky, who oversees the CDC, signed the new order.

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