Europe

Italy Has Imposed Mandatory COVID-19 Tests for Travellers from China

Three years after the first case of a person infected with Coronavirus was detected in China, Italy has imposed again entry restrictions on travellers from this country, in a bid to prevent another break out of the virus in its territory.

– Advertisement –

After having kept its borders shut for almost three years, with merely anyone being able to go in and out, China finally loosened restrictions on December 7 this year. However, Chinese travellers now face another hurdle, that of having to test for COVID before entering several world countries, including here Italy, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

The majority of the European Union Member States, as well as Italy, had removed Coronavirus restrictions in spring this year.

On December 28, 2022, Minister Orazio Schillaci ordered mandatory Covid-19 antigenic swabs and, in case of positivity, molecular testing for virus sequencing, for all passengers coming from China and transiting through Italy,” the Ministry of Health announced in a statement published on the same day.

However, on December 26, testing of passengers arriving from Beijing and Shanghai had already started at the Malpensa airport in Milan, with almost one in two passengers resulting infected.

The measure is essential to ensure surveillance and detection of possible variants of the virus in order to protect the Italian population,” the Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci insisted revealing the new restrictions on December 28.

As a result, the new rules oblige all travellers from China to undergo a COVID-19 test upon arrival in Italy, and quarantine in case their result is positive. Other tests with negative results are required to be performed in order to end isolation.

Exempt from the obligation are children under the age of six, crew members of airlines, officials of the EU or international organisations, diplomatic agents, administrative and technical staff of diplomatic missions, consular officials and employees, military personnel, and those returning from international missions, and of the Police Forces, etc.

China on the other hand, will stop obliging inbound travellers to quarantine from January 8, next year, but will require a negative PCR test result within 48 hours before departure.

The United States, Japan and Taiwan now require a COVID-19 test from visitors from mainland China, with some experts cautioning Canada should do the same.

In February 2020, during the breakout of the Coronavirus pandemic in Europe, Italy was the worst-hit country, with thousands dead within weeks. Since then, the country has confirmed a total of 24,884,034 Coronavirus cases, data by the World Health Organization show.

>> EU Tells Member States to Remove All COVID Restrictions, If They Have Any Left

Read more…….