Year: 2022

U.S. Announces New Covid Test Requirements for Travelers From China

Chin@Strategy

The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that travelers from China, Hong Kong and Macau must present negative Covid-19 tests before entering the United States, a move that it says is intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The announcement, by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, came amid growing concern over a surge of cases in China and the country’s lack of transparency about the outbreak there. This is a developing story. Check back for updates. NYT

Covid-19 is tearing through China

Chin@Strategy

AFTER NEARLY three years of self-imposed isolation, China is opening up again. The domestic travel restrictions, mass-testing requirements and draconian lockdowns of the “zero-covid” policy were scrapped in early December. On January 8th China will reopen its borders, too. People arriving from abroad will no longer have to quarantine. More flights into China will be allowed. Visas will be granted to business travellers and students (though not yet to tourists). And Chinese nationals will be allowed to travel abroad without needing to provide the authorities with a reason. But for…

China’s change in Covid policy doesn’t compel students in US to return for holiday

Chin@Strategy

China has put strict restrictions on cross-border travellers for nearly three years, which hindered Chinese students abroad from coming home and also became a stumbling block for foreign students and others going to China. On Monday, the central government removed the last entry requirements other than a PCR test within 48 hours of departure, a stark contrast to expensive multi-stage entry requirements that have been in place throughout most of 2022. On Tuesday, Beijing said it would increase the number of incoming international flights in stages and further “optimise” arrangements…

Italy says arrivals from China must take Covid tests amid new variant concerns

Chin@Strategy

Italy has become the first country in Europe to make it obligatory for people arriving from China to be tested for Covid-19 following Beijing moving to reopen its borders after lifting some of its toughest anti-Covid restrictions. The move, which sees Italy join a number of countries closer to China in changing its travel policy, comes amid concerns over the potential for new variants to emerge during fresh outbreaks of the virus in China and quickly spread overseas. Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and India are among the Asian states that…

Coronavirus: US will require travellers from China to test negative for Covid-19 before entering

Chin@Strategy

The US will also ask passengers flying to the US from Seoul, Toronto and Vancouver if they have been in China during the previous 10 days. If so, they will also have to submit a negative test within two days of their departure to the US. The move came amid growing concern in Washington and elsewhere about China’s spiralling Covid-19 outbreak in recent weeks, which came after Chinese authorities quickly unwound a sprawling network of testing programmes and other pandemic restrictions in place for nearly three years. The US officials…

Despite border incursion, North Korean drones face fuel shortages, frequent crashes

Chin@Strategy

North Korea raised alarms in South Korea earlier this week when it sent five drones across the border for the first time in five years, prompting Seoul to fire warning shots and scramble jets before the unmanned aircraft returned home hours later.  But sources in North Korea told Radio Free Asia that fuel shortages are so acute that the military can barely keep its drone fleet in the air, and that sometimes they mix castor oil with gasoline, which causes engine failures and frequent crashes during training. “Gasoline … is…

China COVID Pivot Sparks Jitters Worldwide 

Chin@Strategy

Beijing —  Beijing’s sudden pivot away from containing COVID-19 has caused jitters around the world, with the United States saying it may restrict travel from China following its decision to end mandatory quarantine for overseas arrivals. China late Monday scrapped quarantine for inbound travelers from January 8 onwards, dismantling the last remaining piece of its stringent zero-COVID policy and ending some of the world’s harshest border restrictions. The move was greeted with jubilation by Chinese citizens, who rushed to book international flights, triggering a surge in ticket prices. Hospitals and…

Despite Rakhine cease-fire, Myanmar military blocks shipments of aid, fuel and goods

Chin@Strategy

Junta troops are still banning the transport of humanitarian aid including shipments of medicines and fuel in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state a month after a local cease-fire went into force, according to sources in the region.  Brokered by Japan after four months of intense fighting in the Rakhine, the cease-fire is the latest halt to hostilities between junta troops and the rebel Arakan Army, or AA, that have devastated the civilian population of the state and of Paletwa township in neighboring Chin. Although roads have been reopened across Rakhine, junta…

Protesters who fled Hong Kong amid crackdown face deportation from United States

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Dozens of Hong Kong rights groups and former protesters who fled the city amid a crackdown on dissent by China have called on Washington to extend a deportation deadline to prevent them from being sent home. More than 50 advocacy and human rights groups penned an open letter to President Joe Biden, calling on his administration to extend a deadline preventing their deportation beyond its current date of Feb. 5. “The political instability in Hong Kong shows no sign of slowing down,” the letter said. “Defendants are held in pre-trial…

More than 200 vehicles collide in fog on bridge in China – video

Chin@Strategy

One person has been killed after more than 200 vehicles were involved in a pile-up on a bridge in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou in heavy fog, according to rescuers and CCTV footage from the state broadcaster. Many of those injured were trapped in their vehicles and the fire department sent 11 fire trucks and 66 fire rescue personnel to help, state media reported. Visibility in many areas was less than 500 metres on Wednesday morning and down to 200 metres at times, the meteorological service said The Guardian