Global Courant 2023-04-25 13:44:37
BEIJING — China will no longer require travelers coming to the country to present a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) result.
This would scrap a rule that has been a major deterrent to visitation since the world’s second-largest economy emerged from Covid-19 isolation in January.
Beginning April 29, travelers will instead be able to show negative rapid antigen test results while airlines will not have to check the evidence, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said at a regular news conference in Beijing on Tuesday.
The country previously relaxed the rule for some countries such as New Zealand and Malaysia.
The move to scrap it completely comes as air traffic in and out of China is recovering at a slow pace.
The number of international flights in the first quarter was only 12.4 percent of 2019 levels, government data showed.
China enforced the PCR testing rule months after it jettisoned other travel restrictions such as quarantine.
The PCR test requirement was partly because other countries tested passengers out of the country for fear of new variants, after a massive reopened infection wave infected up to 37 million people in a single day.
Most places, such as the United States and Japan, have now stopped testing Chinese travelers.
Still, there are other deterrents before a full recovery in global air traffic in and out of China is likely to be seen.
Sky-high airfares, limited capacity at airlines and a backlog in the approval of passports and visas hold travelers back.
It will take at least a year to get back to pre-pandemic levels, Mr Subhas Menon, director general of the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines, said in February. BLOOMBERG
