Italy has ordered COVID-19 antigen swabs and virus sequencing for all travelers coming from China, where cases are surging, the health minister said on Wednesday.
Italy, which was the first nation in Europe to be hit hard by the virus in February 2020 after it emerged in China, is now the first to impose mandatory tests on people arriving from the Asian country grappling with a new wave.
"The measure is essential to ensure surveillance and detection of possible variants of the virus in order to protect the Italian population," minister Orazio Schillaci said, announcing mandatory testing for all passengers. Chinese hospitals and funeral homes were under intense pressure on Wednesday as its COVID-19 wave drained resources, while the scale of the outbreak and doubts over official data prompted some countries to consider new travel rules on Chinese visitors.
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