The United States will require negative COVID-19 tests for travelers from China, US health officials said, following Beijing's decision to lift strict restrictions to contain the virus.
Officials said Wednesday that the new policy, which will take effect Jan. 5, will apply to all air passengers from China, Hong Kong or Macau. Italy, Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan have also imposed pandemic-related travel restrictions on passengers from China.
And India, which has so far reported the world's second-highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases at 44 million, on Saturday began randomly testing 2 percent of international passengers arriving at its airports for COVID-19.
Cases have surged in China since it relaxed its zero-Covid policy following widespread public protests. Under the controversial policy, authorities put entire cities on lockdown if they reported a few cases.