US To Require Negative COVID Tests After "Extremely Irresponsible" China Reopens Borders; REPORT: Half of the Passengers on 2 Flights from China Had COVID; CDC’s Test Requirement for Travel from China Isn’t Enough, and other C-Virus related stories

US To Require Negative COVID Tests After "Extremely Irresponsible" China Reopens Borders:

Starting Jan. 5 at 12:01 a.m. ET, all passengers from China who are 2 years old and older will need to receive a negative PCR or antigen self-test no more than 2 days before their departure from China, Hong Kong or Macau, per the CDC.

The CDC said it is mainly concerned about slowing the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S.

The agency also wants to prevent any variants of concern from leaking into the country.

Why not now? This wave could be over by then? --->READ MORE HERE

Half of the passengers on 2 flights from China had COVID: report:

Nearly half of the passengers on two separate flights this week from China to Milan tested positive for COVID, and health officials in Italy have announced they will test all travelers coming from the East Asian country.

The two flights of sick passengers arrived at Malpensa Airport from China on Monday, Bloomberg reported.

On the first flight, 35 out of 92 passengers tested positive for the virus, while on the second, 62 passengers out of 120 were infected, according to Lombardy region’s health chief Guido Bertolaso.

The passengers who tested positive have been isolated, and officials have ramped up their contact tracing efforts.

Italy’s Health Minister Orazio Schillaci on Wednesday announced that tests would be required “for all passengers from China and in transit through Italy.”

Officials say the measure will be critical to prevent the spread of new variants of the virus.

“The measure is essential to ensure the surveillance and identification of any variants of the virus in order to protect the Italian population,” Schillaci said, adding that further details of the plan will be provided later. --->READ MORE HERE

Follow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:

CDC’s test requirement for travel from China isn’t enough

COVID-19 ravages China with estimated 250 million cases in 20 days; world weekly up 9%

USA TODAY: Coronavirus Updates

WSJ: Coronavirus Live Updates

YAHOO NEWS: Coronavirus Live Updates

NEW YORK POST: Coronavirus The Latest

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