Update: This article was updated on January 16, 11h20, to reflect that the restrictions are on arrivals from China, Macau and Hong Kong in paragraph 2.
More countries around the world have stepped up restrictive measures in response to the skyrocketing numbers of COVID-19 cases in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. The latest to reintroduce the requirement for pre-travel negative PCR test results from arrivals from China, Macau and Hong Kong, are Germany, Greece, Latvia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, and Sweden.
Cyprus also began requiring arrivals from China to show proof of a negative test yesterday (January 15). The Philippines is still considering imposing testing on visitors from China as well, having heightened surveillance on symptomatic passengers in the meantime.
Belgium, as an additional safety measure, has now confirmed it will test wastewater from aircraft arriving from China for new COVID variants, as originally recommended by Iata.
Many countries have voiced concerns over the COVID numbers that are being reported in China.
"This will be an additional monitoring objective to verify that the data we receive from China is accurate," Steven Van Gucht from the Sciensano National Public Health Institute told Reuters.
Other nations that have already imposed entry restrictions on visitors from China include the US, the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Israel, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Morocco, Qatar, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.
