Australia announced on Sunday that it would impose negative Covid-19 tests on travelers from China, citing a "
lack of complete information
" from Beijing on the wave of contamination in the country.
This measure, which will come into force on January 5, is intended to "
protect Australia from the risk of the emergence of new potential variants
" and "
the consequence of the rapidly evolving situation in China
", said the Minister of Health. Mark Butler.
Three years after the appearance of the first cases of coronavirus in Wuhan (center), China put an end without notice on December 7 to its draconian policy known as “
zero Covid
”.
Since the lifting of restrictions, Chinese hospitals have been overwhelmed by a surge of patients.
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"
This measure is a response to the significant wave of Covid-19 infections in China and the potential for virus variants to emerge in this country
," said Mark Butler.
“
Fortunately, in Australia we have access to vaccines and treatments and have strong population immunity
,” he added.
More than 97% of Australian adults have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
