Britain, France obligate passengers from China to take COVID-19 test

Britain, France, Canada, and Australia join countries such as South Korea and the United States, which already have strengthened immigration control and quarantine measures regarding China, by mandating any incoming visitor from China to take COVID-19 tests.

British news outlets including BBC reported Friday (local time) that the British government will soon announce a set of immigration regulations to make COVID-19 testing a mandatory step for visitors departing from China to take. Once the upcoming measures are implemented, any passenger intent on traveling from China to Britain must submit a negative COVID-19 test result that is confirmed within 48 hours of a scheduled flight. Also, to track down variants of COVID-19, Britain will perform a test on up to 20 percent of passengers on any flight from China after they enter the country.

On that day, France also notified that all flight passengers from China are supposed to show a negative COVID-19 test result before getting on board. It also stands to carry out a random polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on passengers from China after they arrive at Charles-de-Gaulle airport to do a DNA sequencing analysis. French citizens are advised to postpone travel to China as much as possible.

The European Union also plans to discuss joint quarantine measures concerning travelers from China this Wednesday, according to The Associated Press. Sweden, currently holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union over the first half of this year, announced that the region is trying to figure out how to introduce entry limit policies across the EU members collectively.


Sung-Hwi Kang yolo@donga.com