EU will lift the COVID testing requirements for Chinese tourists within the month

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EU will lift the COVID testing requirements for Chinese tourists within the month

EU will lift the COVID testing requirements for Chinese tourists within the month.

On February 16 local time, Sweden, the EU’s rotating presidency, issued a statement stating that the Schengen area member states have agreed to gradually cancel the entry epidemic prevention requirements for passengers departing from China from now on.

The Schengen Area consists of 23 EU member states and the 4 European Free Trade Association member states of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

EU will lift the COVID testing requirements for Chinese tourists within the month

The statement pointed out that at the “Integrated Political Crisis Response” (IPCR) meeting of the European Council’s crisis management mechanism held that day, representatives of 27 Schengen area countries attended and jointly reviewed the situation of the COVID-19 epidemic prevention measures applicable to passengers from China.

“In view of the latest developments in the epidemic and taking into account the opinions of the EU Health and Food Safety Committee, all member states have reached an agreement”, Sweden, the EU’s rotating presidency, announced in a statement that it will “phase out” the ban on self-importance from China by the end of February from now on .

Passengers are required to provide a negative certificate of the new coronavirus test within 48 hours before departure; random nucleic acid testing will be “phased out” before mid-March.

The statement also said that the EU will continue to take coordinated epidemic prevention measures and continue to monitor the situation related to the development of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Earlier, Italy had decided to relax entry restrictions on passengers departing from China. As the first European country to announce mandatory nucleic acid testing for Chinese passengers, on January 31 local time, the Italian Ministry of Health announced that starting from February 1, mandatory nucleic acid testing for Chinese passengers will no longer be implemented, but instead It is a “random test”, but a 48-hour nucleic acid negative certificate is still required in advance.

At the same time, Italy’s “24 Hours Sole” quoted data and pointed out that as of the end of January, the government had conducted more than 3,000 nucleic acid tests on passengers entering Rome from China, and only 47 passengers tested positive, accounting for about 1.4%. , no new variants were found. Among the 47 positive passengers, only 5 entered the country after January 6.

In order to ensure the promotion of exchanges between Chinese and foreign personnel, on December 27 last year, the National Immigration Administration of China announced that it will resume the acceptance and approval of ordinary passports for Chinese citizens traveling abroad and visiting friends in an orderly manner starting from January 8, 2023. , Business visa to Hong Kong.

But since then, the United States, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea and other countries have increased restrictions on the entry of Chinese tourists on the grounds that they are worried about the emergence of new mutant strains.

Among them, the EU stated on January 4 that it “strongly recommends” that the governments of member states require Chinese inbound passengers to provide proof of a negative test for the new coronavirus within 48 hours before departure.

At the same time, the EU also agreed to adopt a series of travel-related measures, involving masks, pre-flight virus testing and wastewater testing, etc. The specific measures are up to each country to decide.

The EU’s above-mentioned “strong suggestion” angered the European aviation industry, which expects Chinese tourists to return to the outbound travel market in large numbers.

On January 5, the Association of European Airlines (A4E), the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the International Airport Council Europe (ACI Europe) issued a joint statement, saying that they were “deeply disappointed” (lament) by the EU’s decision and Liken that suggestion to an unthought-out “knee jerk reaction.”

Regarding the EU’s “targeting” restrictions on Chinese tourists, the spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mao Ning once pointed out that the EU should listen to rational voices and view the situation of China’s epidemic prevention and control objectively and fairly.

Mao Ning emphasized: “China has repeatedly emphasized that the epidemic prevention measures of various countries should be scientific and appropriate, and should not affect the normal personnel exchanges, exchanges and cooperation between countries, there should be no discriminatory practices, and they should not take the opportunity to engage in political manipulation.

Targeting some countries Introducing unreasonable measures, China will take corresponding measures in accordance with the principle of reciprocity in light of the epidemic situation and the needs of prevention and control.”