FirstFT: New Covid restrictions on travellers from China

The US mentioned it might require detrimental Covid-19 checks for air passengers travelling from China as nations rushed to impose restrictions after the abrupt finish of Beijing’s zero-Covid containment coverage resulted in a surge in circumstances.

Washington’s transfer on Wednesday got here simply hours after Italy introduced it’ll check all air passengers arriving from China for the virus, changing into the primary western nation to set new guidelines following the bounce in infections.

The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention mentioned that from January 5, travellers boarding flights to the US from China, Hong Kong and Macau would wish a detrimental Covid-19 check or proof that they had recovered from a earlier an infection. The necessities additionally apply to passengers arriving within the US through a 3rd nation and to these connecting to different locations by the US.

The brand new measures are meant to “sluggish the unfold” of the virus within the US following the surge in China and are being applied due to “the dearth of satisfactory and clear epidemiological and viral genomic sequence knowledge being reported from” Beijing, the CDC mentioned in an announcement.

The Chinese language embassy within the US didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Three extra tales within the information

1. China’s elite hoard Paxlovid as demand soars China’s elites are stockpiling provides of Paxlovid, Pfizer’s Covid-19 antiviral drug, and giving it away to curry favour with enterprise associates as an unprecedented Covid wave leaves hospitals stripped of assets and unusual individuals struggling to entry medicine. A number of private and non-private hospitals informed the FT that the drug was both out of inventory or that its use was being severely restricted.

• First particular person: Having dodged the virus for almost three years, it was paradoxically in Beijing — Xi’s zero-Covid citadel — that it lastly caught up with me, Asia editor Joe Leahy writes.

2. Exxon sues EU to dam new windfall tax on oil firms ExxonMobil is suing the EU in a bid to drive it to scrap the bloc’s new windfall tax on oil teams, arguing Brussels exceeded its authorized authority by imposing the levy. The lawsuit is essentially the most vital response but towards the tax from the oil trade, which has been focused by western governments amid a surge in vitality costs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

3. Wall Avenue shares slip as Hong Kong-listed shares climb US shares fell on Wednesday, all however erasing hopes of a festive rally to finish a dire 12 months for equities, although Hong Kong-listed shares climbed as China eased its zero-Covid restrictions. Wall Avenue’s benchmark S&P 500 was down 0.66 per cent by mid-afternoon, whereas the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down 0.8 per cent.

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