China still requires international passengers to take pre-departure COVID-19 tests and quarantine upon arrival, the customs office said on Friday, a day after dropping some reporting requirements for travellers clearing customs.
China, which has shortened the quarantine period and removed some testing and self-isolation requirements for inbound international travellers, still has some of the world's most stringent COVID-19 policies.
Chinese customs said it had removed the requirements for travellers to report COVID tests, previous infections and vaccination dates when they clear customs, to make entry more convenient.
"This is not an easing of COVID control," the customs office said in a clarifying statement on Friday, referring to the change in the reporting rules.
"There is no substantial change to COVID requirements for inbound travellers."
Travellers intending to enter China from other countries still have to report tests and other COVID-related information to Chinese embassies to get digital health credentials to board their flights, according to embassy websites.
The number of international flights in and out of China has remained low compared with the pre-pandemic era, complicating the travel plans of many.
One of Afghanistan's worst earthquakes killed more than 800 people and injured at least 2,800, authorities said on Monday, as helicopters ferried the wounded to hospital after they were plucked from the rubble of homes being combed for survivors.
Israel pushed tanks deeper into Gaza City and detonated explosives-laden vehicles in one suburb as airstrikes killed at least 19 people on Monday, Palestinian officials and witnesses said.
India's Narendra Modi told Vladimir Putin on Monday that India and Russia stood shoulder to shoulder even in difficult times after the Kremlin chief cast the Indian prime minister as his "dear friend" and gave him a lift in his armoured limousine.
Chinese President Xi Jinping urged leaders to leverage their "mega-scale market", while Russian President Vladimir Putin showed support for Xi's ambition for a new global security and economic order that poses a challenge to the US during a regional summit on Monday.
South Korea has suspended a military radio broadcast that transmits to North Korea as part of measures aimed at easing tensions with Pyongyang, Seoul's defence ministry said on Monday.
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