Tag: Tests (Medical)

U.S. Will Lift Covid Testing Requirement for Travelers From China

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WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is planning to end on Friday a requirement that travelers coming from China present a negative Covid-19 test before entering the United States, according to a person familiar with the plan. The plan to roll back the restriction comes as a once-enormous viral wave subsides in China, and after other countries have announced their own easing of restrictions for people traveling from China. The administration considered both factors in making the decision, the person said, and will continue monitoring flights from China and other countries…

E.U. Urges Nations to Require Negative Covid Tests for Travelers From China

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BRUSSELS — The European Union on Wednesday “strongly encouraged” its 27 member nations to require a negative Covid-19 test for travelers boarding flights from China to the region, amid a surge in coronavirus cases in the country and Beijing’s lifting of its draconian travel restrictions. The bloc’s recommendation, an attempt at a unified policy, came after three major European tourist destinations — France, Italy and Spain — as well as Britain, introduced testing and other requirements for travelers from China. The E.U. move would bring back a tough pandemic-era measure…

China Denounces Covid Testing Rules Imposed on Its Travelers

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The Chinese government on Tuesday denounced Covid testing requirements imposed by other countries on travelers arriving from China as unscientific or “excessive,” and threatened to take countermeasures. As China prepares to open its borders later this week, allowing its citizens to travel abroad for the first time since the pandemic began, countries like Canada, the United States, France, Spain, Japan and the United Kingdom have moved to restrict travelers arriving from the country. The countries have cited concerns about a surge in Covid-19 infections in China, the potential risk of…

U.S. Announces New Covid Test Requirements for Travelers From China

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The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that travelers from China, Hong Kong and Macau must present negative Covid-19 tests before entering the United States, a move that it says is intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The announcement, by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, came amid growing concern over a surge of cases in China and the country’s lack of transparency about the outbreak there. This is a developing story. Check back for updates. NYT

China’s ‘Zero Covid’ Policy Changes, Explained

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The Chinese government on Wednesday unveiled a broad easing of its strict “zero Covid” policy, after an extraordinary outburst of discontent in mass street protests a week ago. The changes do not dismantle the policy, but they represent a loosening of measures that have dragged down the economy by disrupting daily life for hundreds of millions of people, forcing many small businesses to close and sending youth unemployment to a record high. Here are the highlights from the announcement. Testing The new rules move China away from the use of…

Beijing’s Testing Surge

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Beijing’s testing surge Beijing is racing to test nearly all of its 22 million residents three times over five days in a high-stakes bid to avoid a similar fate as Shanghai, where millions of residents have been forced into an almost unbearable monthlong lockdown. Today millions of Beijing residents took their second round of tests, and officials from the Chinese capital announced that they had uncovered an additional 46 cases. The city identified three more neighborhoods today as high-risk and four more as medium-risk, designations that both prompt lockdowns. Overall,…

China’s Covid Strategy: Test 20 Million in Beijing Amid Lockdown Fears

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Beijing officials urged residents to work remotely, and they suspended large-scale gatherings such as cultural performances, sports events and exhibitions. Some streets in Chaoyang, where most of the cases have been detected so far, were uncommonly quiet. Officials had earlier identified a small area elsewhere in the district, covering about a square mile of southern Chaoyang, where they ordered residents locked down or discouraged them from leaving their homes. Many Chaoyang residents appeared to be heeding such advice, with sidewalk eateries and shops left with no patrons. Concerns about a…

China’s ‘Zero-Covid’ Mess Proves Autocracy Hurts Everyone

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After the city locked down its 25 million residents and grounded most delivery services in early April, many people encountered problems sourcing food, regardless of their socioeconomic status. Some set multiple alarms for the different restocking times of grocery delivery apps that start as early as 6 a.m. Updated  April 13, 2022, 6:35 a.m. ET In the past few days, a hot topic in WeChat groups has been whether sprouted potatoes were safe to eat, a few Shanghai residents told me. Neighbors resorted to a barter system to exchange, say,…

Covid Outbreak at Shanghai Hospital Exposes Risks to China’s Seniors

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A coronavirus outbreak is ravaging a hospital in Shanghai for older adults, underscoring the difficulties officials have had in containing infections even as the city imposed a 10-day staggered lockdown. Two orderlies at the Shanghai Donghai Elderly Care Hospital said in interviews that the coronavirus was spreading widely among the mostly older patients in the facility, and that people had died on each of the past three days. The two, who declined to be named for fear of losing their jobs, said that on a recent night they had been…

Confusion and Chaos in Hong Kong as Leaders Fumble Virus Response

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HONG KONG — From week to week as infections barreled through the city, residents in Hong Kong watched the government’s coronavirus policies change. First, officials said they didn’t have plans for social distancing in January, then promptly shut down bars and gyms and banned flights from eight countries. In February, the officials vowed to test every resident, then appeared to abandon those plans this month. And on Thursday, public beaches were closed just three days after Carrie Lam, the city’s leader, raised the possibility of relaxing Covid-19 restrictions. As Hong…