Dragon Trail

The US is considering imposing new Covid restrictions on Chinese arrivals, after Beijing announced it would .

American officials say this is due to a lack of transparency surrounding Com /person/the_virus-whois.html'>The Virus in China, as cases surge.

Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan have already outlined tighter measures for Chinese travellers, including negative test results.

Beijing has said Covid rules should be brought in on a " scientific" basis.

India is also stepping up measures on Chinese arrivals, Com /person/but-whois.html'>But Com /person/this_was-whois.html'>This Was announced before Beijing said it would relax its strict border policy.

Passport applications for Chinese citizens wishing to travel internationally will resume from 8 January, The Com /person/country-whois.html'>Country 's immigration authorities have said.

Travel sites have, leaving some countries fearful over The potential spread of Covid.

" There are mounting concerns in Com /person/the_international-whois.html'>The International community on The ongoing Covid-19 surges in China and The lack of transparent data, including viral genomic sequence data, " US officials said in a statement quoted by news agencies.

Com /person/wang_wenbin-whois.html'>Wang Wenbin , China's Com /person/foreign_minister-whois.html'>Foreign Minister spokesperson, subsequently accused Western countries and Com /person/media-whois.html'>Media of " hyping up" and " distorting China's Covid policy adjustments".

Com /person/he_said-whois.html'>He Said China believed all countries' Covid responses should be " science-based and proportionate" and should " not affect normal people-to-people exchange".

Mr Wang called for " joint efforts to ensure safe cross-border travel, maintain stability of Com /person/global_industrial-whois.html'>Global Industrial supply chains and promote economic recovery and growth".

The true toll of daily cases and deaths in China is currently unknown because officials have stopped releasing this data. Reports say and elderly people are dying.

Last week, Beijing reported about 4,000 new Covid infections each day and few deaths.

Before The relaxation Com /person/of_travel-whois.html'>Of Travel rules, people were strongly discouraged from travelling abroad. The sale of outbound group and package travel was banned, according to marketing solutions company Com /person/dragon_trail-whois.html'>Dragon Trail International.

Within half an hour of Monday's notice that China's borders would reopen, data from travel site Trip. Com - cited in Com /person/chinese_media-whois.html'>Chinese Com /person/media-whois.html'>Media - showed searches for popular destinations had increased ten-fold year-on-year.

Macau, Com /person/hong_kong-whois.html'>Hong Kong , Japan, Thailand and Com /person/south_korea-whois.html'>South Korea were Com /person/the_most-whois.html'>The Most popular destinations.

On Wednesday, Com /person/hong_kong-whois.html'>Hong Kong 's leader John Lee announced that his city was scrapping Com /person/the_last-whois.html'>The Last of its Covid rules almost immediately - Com /person/apart-whois.html'>Apart from The wearing of face masks, which will remain compulsory.

" Com /person/the_city-whois.html'>The City has reached a relatively high vaccination rate which builds an anti-epidemic barrier, " Mr Lee told a Com /person/media-whois.html'>Media briefing.

The US still requires international travellers to show on entering The Com /person/country-whois.html'>Country .

The website for The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also recommends that anyone travelling to The US gets a Covid test beforehand and has their result to hand - Com /person/but-whois.html'>But this is not a legal obligation.

In their statement, The unnamed US officials added they were " following The science and advice of Com /person/public_health-whois.html'>Public Health experts" and " consulting with partners".

China's loosening Com /person/of_travel-whois.html'>Of Travel measures - Com /person/the_last-whois.html'>The Last part of The Com /person/country-whois.html'>Country 's - follows weeks of unrest, during which time people took to Com /person/the_streets-whois.html'>The Streets in rare protests against President Com /person/xi_jinping-whois.html'>Xi Jinping and his Com /person/government-whois.html'>Government .

Source of news: bbc.com