China on Tuesday warned that it would take countermeasures in response to the mounting travel restrictions imposed on passengers travelling abroad from its territory, reported Reuters.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press briefing that the restrictions lack scientific basis and are unacceptable.
Coronavirus cases in China increased sharply after the authorities abandoned its strict “zero-Covid” policy last month following unprecedented anti-lockdown protests. The rapid increase in cases has led to some hospitals and morgues in the country being overwhelmed.
As the situation worsened, India along with the United States, Spain, France, South Korea, Italy, Japan and Taiwan announced they will require negative tests from passengers arriving from China.
Some countries have cited China’s lack of transparency about infection data and the risk of new emerging variants as reasons to implement containment measures for arriving passengers, according to Reuters.
On Tuesday, the foreign ministry spokesperson said that China was willing to improve communication with the world.
“But...we are firmly opposed to attempts to manipulate the epidemic prevention and control measures for political purposes, and will take corresponding measures in different situations according to the principle of reciprocity,” she added.
On December 30, the World Health Organization had urged China to regularly share specific and real-time information regarding the Covid-19 situation in the country, genetic sequencing data and information on hospitalisations and deaths.
According to an internal estimate from China’s top health officials, 25 crore persons or 18% of the population in the country may have caught Covid-19 infection in the first 20 days of December.
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