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The Maltese authorities have announced that from Monday, February 27, travellers from China will no longer be required to undergo a pre-departure COVID test.
The decision of Malta to lift the testing requirement for all arrivals from China was taken after evaluating the current COVID situation in China and Malta and concluding that there is no risk, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
In addition, Malta’s decision also follows a meeting of health experts from the European Union Member States held last week in the framework of the Integrated Political Crisis Response arrangements.
During this meeting, the EU member states’ health experts said that the Coronavirus situation in China permits the gradual removal of the restrictions.
Nonetheless, despite deciding to drop the entry requirement for travellers from China, the EU health experts stressed that the bloc’s authorities would continue to monitor COVID developments in China and take action if the situation starts deteriorating in the future.
“In light of the recent epidemiological developments and taking into account the opinion of the Health Security Committee, Member States agree to phase out the requirement for a negative pre-departure COVID-19 test for travellers from China to Member States by the end of February,” the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council said.
The Council further noted that the EU countries have also agreed to end random testing of travellers from China by the middle of next month. This means that by the middle of March, relevant authorities of EU airports will not randomly pick travellers from China to take a COVID test.
Apart from Malta, the other member states of the EU will also soon drop the Coronavirus entry restrictions for travellers from China.
France is one of the countries that have already removed the testing requirement for all arrivals from China. The French authorities announced earlier this week that mandatory pre-departure testing requirements and random screenings on arrival would no longer apply to arrivals from China.
The French Embassy in Beijing said that France would also no longer require travellers arriving from China to complete the health declaration form and stressed that random screenings have also been abolished.
“Travellers from China to France are no longer required to present the result of a negative test or fill a health declaration form. Random screenings on arrival are also abolished,” the embassy stated.
Data provided by World Health Organization show that China has recorded only 116,704 COVID-19 deaths in the last seven days. During the same period, the country recorded 526 new deaths.
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