Coronavirus: New Zealand not following US in requiring travellers from China to provide negative test before travelling

Health officials say those travelling from China to Aotearoa won't have to provide a negative pre-departure COVID-19 test, after the US introduced such a requirement.

United States officials announced on Wednesday (local time) travellers from China will have to provide a negative COVID test result at least two days before travelling.

There is concern in the US about China's lack of transparency surrounding the most recent surge in cases, particularly the absence of genome sequencing information that could help detect new strains of the coronavirus, CNN reported.

The travelling requirement comes into effect on January 5 and follows moves by Japan and India to introduce measures as COVID cases rise in China.

A Ministry of Health (MoH) spokesperson told Newshub based on the Ministry's latest risk assessment of international arrivals, including China, pre-departure testing isn't necessary.

"[International arrivals] do not significantly change the risk of COVID-19 in New Zealand and the current public health measures remain appropriate for managing the pandemic."

Epidemiologist at University of Otago Professor Michael Baker agreed. He told Newshub that even if Aotearoa imported new COVID cases from China, it wouldn't have much, if any, effect on New Zealand's current outbreak.

"The way to change the trajectory of infection in New Zealand is to reduce transmission in this country."

Prof Baker said the risk of new variants being imported to New Zealand from China is an equal risk to any other country.

"There have already been several billion opportunities around the globe [for variants to emerge and spread]."

He added there is no evidence that suggests variants in China are any different from the ones currently circulating.

The MoH spokesperson said the Ministry is "regularly" monitoring global trends in COVID cases hospitalisations, deaths and new varients.

They added if COVID outbreaks in other countries worsen and are cause for concern they will "update our public health advice in response to emerging evidence".

"The Ministry has not advised the reintroduction of testing of international arrivals, but we continue to encourage recent arrivals to get tested if they experience COVID-19 symptoms."

Prof Baker said without pre-departure testing, it is "critical" that Aotearoa's COVID public health measures are followed.

That message was echoed by MoH. They encouraged Kiwis to stay up-to-date with COVID-19 vaccines, including booster vaccinations.

"The current vaccines remain effective at reducing risk of severe disease if you are infected with any of the subvariants currently circulating," they said.

"We also strongly recommend people continue to wear masks in high-risk settings, such as closed or crowded spaces with poor ventilation."

It comes as the number of COVID-19 deaths has increased while cases declined over the past week.

In its latest COVID update on Wednesday, the MoH said there were 32,010 new community cases of COVID-19 and a further 78 virus-related deaths over the past week. One of the deaths was a child aged under 10.

The latest data covered the seven-day period from Monday, December 19 to Sunday, December 25.