China to scrap PCR test for inbound travellers in latest easing
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The move to scrap the PCR test comes as air travel in and out of China recovers at a sluggish pace.
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BEIJING – China will no longer require travellers to the country to provide a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result.
The rule has been a major deterrent for travellers since the world’s second-largest economy emerged from Covid-19 isolation in January.
From Saturday, travellers can instead show negative antigen rapid test results, and airlines will not be required to check the proof, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said on Tuesday at a regular press briefing in Beijing.
The country earlier loosened the rule for some countries like New Zealand and Malaysia.
The move to scrap it entirely comes as air travel in and out of China recovers at a sluggish pace.
The number of international flights in the first quarter was only at 12.4 per cent of the 2019 level, government data showed.
China kept the PCR testing rule months after it had jettisoned other travel curbs like the need for quarantine.
The PCR test requirement was in place partly because other nations were testing passengers from the country due to fears over new variants, after a massive reopening infection wave saw up to 37 million people infected in one day.
Most places, like the United States and Japan, have now stopped testing Chinese travellers for Covid-19.
Still, other deterrents remain before a full recovery in global air travel in and out of China is likely to be seen.
Sky-high airfares, limited capacity at airlines and a backlog in getting passports and visas approved are holding back travellers.
It will take at least a year to get back to pre-pandemic levels, Mr Subhas Menon, director-general of the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines, said in February. BLOOMBERG
