Chinese travellers hit by ‘scientifically unjustified’ restrictions

China’s reopening to the world after three years of zero-Covid policy planned for the 8th January 2023 sparked hopes of rapid economic revival and long-awaited recovery for the aviation sector. On the eve of 2023, a number of States within the EU and globally decided unilaterally to impose health-related travel requirements for Chinese travellers.

ACI EUROPE issued a statement expressing regret at these actions, underlining their incongruence with the experience and evidence gained over the past three years. The ineffectiveness of international travel restrictions in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and its multiple Variants of Concern (VOCs) has been unequivocally recognised by both the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO). Testing travellers from China and/or imposing other restrictions for travellers from this country is neither scientifically justified nor risk based, as expressly stated by the ECDC on multiple occasions.

On the 5th January, the EU member states agreed on the recommendation requiring a negative COVID-19 test for passengers travelling between China and the EU. In a joint statement with A4E and IATA, ACI EUROPE lamented this outcome and reiterated that such travel requirements are at odds with the ECDC assessment published on the 3rd January, confirming that the current surge of COVID-19 cases in China is not expected to impact the epidemiological situation in the EU/EEA.

The associations urged EU member states and China to work together and to reconsider at the earliest opportunity their requirements for systematic pre-departure testing of travellers based on a scientifically driven risk assessment.