Canberra: Australia will require people arriving from China to provide a negative COVID-19 test starting January 5, Health Minister Mark Butler said on Sunday.
“The government has decided … to require travelers from China to submit evidence before boarding their flight of their negative COVID test. This arrangement will come into effect … on the fifth of January,” Butler told reporters.
Butler said the decision was a temporary measure and was taken due to concerns regarding the epidemiological situation in China.
“That lack of comprehensive information has led a number of countries in recent days to put in place various measures — not to restrict travel from China, it’s important to say — but to gather better information about what is happening epidemiologically in that country,” Butler added, as quoted by the Australian broadcaster ABC.
The United Kingdom, France, the United States, and Canada have also introduced COVID-19 testing requirements for Chinese travelers amid the coronavirus outbreak in the country that occurred in November.
