The United Kingdom government has issued mandatory, negative Covid tests for travelers from China before they fly into the country.
This is amid fears of a new covid variant emerging from the Chinese surge in cases.
Recall that the United States had earlier on Wednesday, December 28, imposed a similar restriction on travelers coming to the country from China.
The UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has taken this precautionary approach because of the explosion of Covid symptoms and death in China and the decision of Xi Jinping, its president, to lift the block on international travel from Jan 8.
Senior scientific advisers had remarked that the reintroduction of travel tests was not justified because Europe was well protected and there was no sign yet, of a new variant.
But the US, Japan, Italy, Spain, India, South Korea, and Taiwan have also already announced tests for travelers from China, after claims that the country was currently suffering as many as one million new infections per day after ending its zero Covid policy.
