BEIJING: In its latest tit-for-tat response, China has decided to re-impose mandatory COVID-19 tests for arrivals from South Korea on Wednesday.
In a notice sent on Tuesday to airlines operating between the two countries, Chinese aviation authorities said all passengers on board direct flights from South Korea to China will receive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests on arrival from Wednesday, said media reports citing officials.
Those who return positive will have to be quarantined or hospitalized, based on their presentation. The revoking of the tests comes a month after China dropped its previous requirement of mandatory PCR tests on all international arrivals.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a regular press briefing on Tuesday that there needs to be corresponding and “equivalent measures”, voicing concerns over what it called Seoul’s “discriminatory” entry restrictions.
Meanwhile, regular life in China resumed as the number of COVID hospitalizations reduced as said by frontline workers who were mobilized across the country to battle the sudden surge. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a regular press briefing on Tuesday that there need to be corresponding and “equivalent measures”, voicing concerns over what it called Seoul’s “discriminatory” entry restrictions.
Since Dec 8th, China has reported nearly 79,000 deaths attributed to hospitalization due to COVID-19.
The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday revised China’s growth outlook sharply higher for 2023, to 5.2% from 4.4% previously after “zero-COVID” lockdown policies in 2022 slashed China’s growth rate to 3.0% – a pace below the global average for the first time in more than 40 years.