U.K. to impose mandatory COVID-19 tests for travellers from China

PARIS -

Passengers arriving in Britain from China will require a negative test for COVID-19 after a surge in infections in China, British media outlets reported.

The Times and The Telegraph reported on Friday that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has weighed in to take the step.

The BBC reported that the UK government was set to announce the China arrival policy, without providing a specific time.

Britain's Department for Transport did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. British officials had said on Thursday that the government was reviewing whether to impose restrictions on people arriving from China.

The reports come after some other countries, including the United States and India, imposed COVID-19 tests for travellers from China.

France, South Korea and Spain have also done so.

Chinese state media on Friday called the imposition of COVID tests by various countries on travellers arriving from China "discriminatory."

The moves come after doubts over the transparency of official data from Beijing raised concerns about a wave of infections.

China has rejected criticism of its COVID-19 statistics and said it expects mutations to be more infectious but less severe.

Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Gareth Jones