US may restrict travel from China over lack of transparency about exploding rates of Covid cases

The Biden administration is eyeing new requirements on international travelers arriving from China.

The possibility of renewed requirements such as testing upon arrival and ongoing surveillance comes amid an explosion of cases in China that has begun to strain hospitals, a product of the country’s abrupt end to its ‘zero-Covid policy’ which severely stifled population immunity.

Biden administration officials worry that the Chinese Communist Party is concealing the true death toll and average case count within its borders as well as viral genomic data, raising the specter of a new more virulent Covid variant.

It is possible that government officials will restore the requirement that arrivals from China get tested, which was scrapped in June.

Government officials said: ‘There are mounting concerns in the international community on the ongoing COVID-19 surges in China and the lack of transparent data, including viral genomic sequence data, being reported from [China].

‘Without this data, it is becoming increasingly difficult for public health officials to ensure that they will be able to identify any potential new variants and take prompt measures to reduce the spread.’

Officials from Taiwan and Japan will begin requiring a negative Covid-19 test for visitors from mainland China. Malaysia, meanwhile, has also ‘announced new tracking and surveillance measures,’ according to the US.

China will drop quarantine requirements for international arrivals from January 8, in a major step toward reopening its borders that have isolated the country from the rest of the world for nearly three years.

The country had maintained a strict ‘zero-Covid policy’ dating back to the early days of the pandemic which imposed widespread lockdowns in the country that brought the economy and society to a standstill and led to countless needless deaths.

The policy also limited exposure to the virus which over time decreases our immune system’s vulnerability to it. 

General immunity in the US is relatively high because people have been exposed time and again over the past few years and, when combined with the immune boosting power of vaccines, this blankets the population in protection.

Frustration at the government boiled over when protesters took to the streets en masse demanding an end to the rigid zero Covid policy. Soon after the Communist leadership gave in, Covid cases exploded.

But to what extent cases and fatalities have increased remains unclear. The Chinese government has not publicized the necessary data and the relatively low death toll – less than 17,000 since the start of the pandemic – is believed to be an undercount.

China’s National Health Commission reported 40,052 new cases nationwide Monday, setting a record for the fifth day in a row.