Mark Butler says the government has to keep in line with international expectations as well as Australian health officials, after going against formal advice not to require pre-flight COVID tests on travellers from China.
abc.net.au/news/health-minister-defends-covid-travel-tests-for-china/101829530The health minister has defended his decision to impose pre-departure COVID tests on people travelling from China, despite the government's chief health advisor recommending against it.
China is facing a wave of COVID infections as it abandons its zero-COVID policy and reopens international travel, but has also received criticism for a lack of detail over the scale of infections in the country. He said Border Force had not identified any issues with compliance as the first flights arrived this morning.
Mr Butler noted that in the past 24 hours the European Commission had encouraged EU countries to follow suit, and that Australia was in step with the United States, the United Kingdom and several Asia-Pacific countries in requiring pre-flight testing.
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