(Yicai Global) Dec. 29 -- The United States will require all arrivals from the Chinese mainland and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao to provide a negative Covid-19 test result or documentation showing that they have recovered from the illness. Japan and India have already introduced similar requirements.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday that from Jan. 5 passengers from China aged two or older will need to show a negative Covid test taken within 48 hours prior to boarding, regardless of nationality and vaccination status.

The measure also applies to passengers flying direct to the US or through another country as well as those traveling on to other countries via connections in the US.

Japan said yesterday that from Dec. 30 it will test people who stayed in the Chinese mainland within seven days of their arrival in the country, and those who enter from the Chinese mainland upon arrival. Passengers who test positive will have to quarantine in a designated facility, it added.

Specific measures, including limiting the number of flights between Japan and China, will be announced by the authorities, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at a press conference on Dec. 27.

Overseas travelers from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, and South Korea must have a negative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test report when coming to India, Mansukh Mandaviya, the country’s minister for health and family welfare, said on Dec. 24. Arrivals with Covid-19 symptoms or positive test results will be quarantined, he added.

Italy’s health ministry said yesterday that the European country was also bringing in Covid-19 tests for all visitors from China, a requirement that also applies to travelers with connecting flights.

The French embassy in China, as well as travel agencies from Thailand, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Austria, and Switzerland, recently said they welcome tourists from China.

Editors: Liao Shumin, Martin Kadiev