Covid tests for China travelers to England ending
Travelers flying into England from mainland China will no longer have to provide proof of a negative pre-departure test from next month.
The change will come into effect on 5 April – exactly three months after the measures started.
Ministers brought in controls after a spike in cases following Beijing’s relaxation of its zero-Covid policy.
Their removal comes after greater transparency from China, the government said.
In a statement, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said that there has been increased information on “testing, vaccination, and genomic sequencing results” on China’s domestic disease levels.
The data indicate that Covid variants seen in China “continue to be the same as those already circulating in the UK”, it added.
The Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention also reported that all regions had passed their infection peak, the statement reported.
The temporary testing program was implemented in January. The government said its aim was to improve Covid surveillance of travelers arriving at London’s main airport from China by helping to detect potential new variants.
The government said an average of 99 people per flight had been tested, totaling 3,374 passengers.