US virus restrictions raising doubts

Health officials in the United States announced new testing requirements for travelers from China on Wednesday, raising doubts from some medical experts.

Travelers aged 2 and above from China must show a negative test result as of Jan 5.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also announced that a voluntary traveler-based genomic surveillance program will expand to seven key airports around the US.

The US move follows several other countries announcing testing as China announced this week that it will begin reopening its borders on Jan 8, allowing residents to travel without quarantining upon return.

Governments and tourism-focused businesses around the world are preparing for a possible influx of travelers from what had been among the world's largest outbound tourist markets. The latest restriction could threaten to dampen the rebound of Chinese tourists to countries that had previously welcomed them, according to tourism professionals.

Ali Mokdad, a public health researcher and professor in the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington's School of Medicine, has been monitoring the COVID-19 situation in China closely.

Despite some high projections for the number of cases in China, Mokdad told The Washington Post that he does not believe new travel restrictions are warranted.

Largest outbound market

David Dowdy, an infectious disease public health researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told The Associated Press that he hopes the restrictions "aren't kept in place longer than they need to be".

"I don't think it's going to have a major impact in slowing the spread of COVID-19," Dowdy said. "We have a whole lot of transmission of COVID-19 here within our borders already."

China was the world's largest outbound tourism market before COVID-19 shut down global travel, with its overseas visitors spending $127.5 billion on travel in 2019.

As of Dec 24, more than 150 countries and regions had scrapped all entry restrictions, according to US travel website Travel Off Path.

The relaxation in China has boosted domestic flight and hotel bookings, according to several online travel platforms. Flight ticket sales during the peak Lunar New Year travel season in January have also surged by nearly 8.5 times, compared with figures prior to the relaxation of COVID-19 curbs, according to Chinese travel website Qunar.

Alex Wang, founder and president of China Tour, told China Daily: "There's a big boom in overseas Chinese traveling to China to visit their families, relatives and friends, since they haven't been able to do so for three years. So far, we have several thousand clients who have planned to travel to China. So, I expect a big boom in tourists from China after it's completely open without any restrictions."

On Thursday, a spokesman of the British government said London has no plans to bring back testing for those coming into the country, in contrast to those countries mandating tests for Chinese travelers.

Agencies contributed to this story.