EU advises pre-flight Covid tests on passengers from China

(PA)

The European Union has “strongly encouraged” its member states to impose pre-departure Covid-19 testing of passengers from China, in a move that is likely to upset Beijing and has already been criticised by the global airline industry.

Following a week of talks between EU health experts, the bloc stopped short of fully imposing on all 27 member states such a travel restriction that members like Italy, France and Spain had already implemented.

China has already vehemently rejected such actions and has warned of “countermeasures” if such policies were to be imposed across the bloc.