JUST IN: More countries impose Covid testing on China
The United States (US) has become the latest country to impose Covid testing on visitors from China, while the United Kingdom (UK) will today consider imposing restrictions.
Italy, Japan, Taiwan and India have also announced mandatory tests.
China is currently experiencing the world’s largest Covid-19 outbreak after abruptly ending its zero-Covid policy, which means people will be allowed to travel more freely from 8 January.
International concerns are mounting over the reliability of official figures reported by the Chinese authorities.
The Chinese Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has been reporting new daily Covid cases of between 4 000 and 5 000, but leaked minutes of China's National Health Commission (NHC) stated there were nearly 37 million Covid cases reported on 20 December, while the total number of infections from 1 to 20 December was 248 million people - accounting for 17.56% of the total population.
Twelve Omicron variants have been found in China. The main strains detected are the Omicron subvariants BA.5.2, BF.7, and BM.7.
In Namibia, the executive director of the ministry of health and social services, Ben Nangombe, issued a statement on 21 December saying the Covid-19 situation in the country “remains stable and manageable”.
Nangombe said: “According to the latest reports from our laboratories, Omicron variant continues to be the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant driving Covid-19 cases in Namibia, mainly the sub-lineages BA.4. Additionally, BA.5., another sub-variant of Omicron, continues to be detected at lower frequency in Namibia.” – Own report and Reuters, Bloomberg, BBC, Telegraph and Taiwan News
Italy, Japan, Taiwan and India have also announced mandatory tests.
China is currently experiencing the world’s largest Covid-19 outbreak after abruptly ending its zero-Covid policy, which means people will be allowed to travel more freely from 8 January.
International concerns are mounting over the reliability of official figures reported by the Chinese authorities.
The Chinese Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has been reporting new daily Covid cases of between 4 000 and 5 000, but leaked minutes of China's National Health Commission (NHC) stated there were nearly 37 million Covid cases reported on 20 December, while the total number of infections from 1 to 20 December was 248 million people - accounting for 17.56% of the total population.
Twelve Omicron variants have been found in China. The main strains detected are the Omicron subvariants BA.5.2, BF.7, and BM.7.
In Namibia, the executive director of the ministry of health and social services, Ben Nangombe, issued a statement on 21 December saying the Covid-19 situation in the country “remains stable and manageable”.
Nangombe said: “According to the latest reports from our laboratories, Omicron variant continues to be the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant driving Covid-19 cases in Namibia, mainly the sub-lineages BA.4. Additionally, BA.5., another sub-variant of Omicron, continues to be detected at lower frequency in Namibia.” – Own report and Reuters, Bloomberg, BBC, Telegraph and Taiwan News
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