Chinese travellers to Australia forced to take COVID tests

Australia will impose mandatory COVID-19 testing for travellers arriving from China after a spike in cases in the key tourism and business market.

Health Minister Mark Butler announced on Sunday that travellers would need to take a COVID test within the 48 hours before travel and show evidence of a negative result before travelling to Australia starting from January 5.

He cited the “lack of comprehensive information” Beijing was providing to the international community about the outbreak gripping the nation of 1.4 billion people.

“The decision to implement these temporary measures has been made out of an abundance of caution, taking into account the dynamic and evolving situation in China and the potential for new variants to emerge in an environment of high transmission,” Mr Butler said.

“Australia is well positioned in its pandemic response. We continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation in Australia and internationally, in collaboration with medical experts.

“Our absolute priority is keeping our community safe and continuing to be a world leader when it comes to responding to the global COVID-19 pandemic.”

The mandatory testing will apply to travellers from Hong Kong and Macau in addition to those from mainland China.

Australia has now joined the US, India, Italy, Japan and Taiwan among other nations in imposing the mandatory test requirement for arrivals from China.