China has loosened travel restrictions internally. As a result, there has been an uptick in COVID-19 infections throughout China. Along with the loosened domestic travel restrictions, many Chinese are booking flights out of the country.
Despite previously accusing the Trump administration of promoting ‘Asian hate‘ and xenophobia, the Biden CDC is now requiring travelers from China to provide evidence of a negative COVID test prior to travel to the U.S, and entry into the United States.
(Via Axios) – The United States will require travelers from China to show a negative COVID-19 test result before flying to the country amid China’s recent uptick in cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.
The big picture: The CDC’s decision comes amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in China, which recently loosened its travel restrictions and opened its borders for overseas travel.
The CDC said it is mainly concerned about slowing the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. The agency also wants to prevent any variants of concern from leaking into the country.
Details: Starting Jan. 5 at 12:01 a.m. ET, all passengers from China who are 2 years old and older will need to receive a negative PCR or antigen self-test no more than 2 days before their departure from China, Hong Kong or Macau, per the CDC.
This applies regardless of nationality or vaccination status, the CDC said. It also applies to travelers traveling from China via a third country, or those who are connecting through the United States to another country. Airlines will need to confirm the negative test result for all passengers before they board. Otherwise, they can deny boarding for the traveler, per the CDC.
Context: People in China — who were under heavy COVID travel restrictions until earlier this month — have been flocking out of the country. Air travel ticket sales have soared since China eliminated quarantines and testing requirements for travelers into the country. (more)
Just a few days shy of the start of 2023, health officials in the Biden administration have announced that effective January 5th, new restrictions will be put in place on travelers visiting the United States from China, which include proof of a negative COVID test.
Bloomberg News reports that “travelers coming directly from China or who were in the country 10 days before their departure to the US will be required to show either a negative PCR or antigen test for the coronavirus” before they will be allowed into the country. This comes in response to an unconfirmed report from the Chinese government that just last week, tens of millions in the country “may have been infected” with COVID-19 in one day.
Similar moves have also been made by Italy, Japan, Taiwan, and India.
The decision by the United States also comes after the Biden State Department issued a travel advisory on December 23rd urging people to think twice about traveling “to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and the Macau SAR, due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, and COVID-19-related restrictions.”
As many will recall, when Donald Trump was president he was pilloried by the media and Democrats, including then-presidential candidate Joe Biden, for allegedly engaging in “xenophobia” after instituting pandemic-based travel restrictions on China. For instance, there were these comments from Trump in March 2020:
“I always treated the Chinese Virus very seriously, and have done a very good job from the beginning, including my very early decision to close the “borders” from China – against the wishes of almost all. Many lives were saved. The Fake News new narrative is disgraceful & false!”
This was Biden’s response:
There was also this:
And on the day after Trump’s China travel ban was made official, Biden tweeted this:
This is not the first time Joe Biden has been accused of being a hypocrite when it comes to restricting travel from other countries to the U.S. over concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.
Just days into his presidency, the Biden White House announced restrictions would be put in place against South Africa, Brazil, the UK, and Ireland.
In November of that same year, restrictions were again put in place for South Africa, as well as Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, and Malawi at the urging of Biden’s chief medical advisor Dr. Tony Fauci.
It just once again goes to show that it’s okay when a Democrat does it. But when it’s a Republican … well, you know the usual drill by this point.