The Chinese embassy in the U.S. has updated Covid guidelines for travelers flying to China, allowing them to enter the country without taking a nucleic acid test seven days before boarding from Friday onwards.
The requirement for passengers to document their temperature and health condition for a week before their departure will also be removed, as will the requirement to take an antibody test, according to a statement published Tuesday by the embassy.
1. Passengers traveling to China must get their samples for the nucleic acid rt-PCR tests collected at the departure city of their direct flight to China. Passengers must allow for the time to take pharyngeal or nasopharyngeal swabsand other sampling in the departure city of their flight and wait in place for the test results before the flight. Upon receiving the reports, passengers need to apply for health code from the Chinese Embassy or Consulate General (based on consular jurisdiction), travel before it expires and be prepared for checking by the airlines before boarding.
2. Passengers are also required to present a negative result of antigen teston top of health codewhen check-in or boarding.
3. Foreign passengers can apply for health code at
https://hrhk.cs.mfa.gov.cn/H5/ .
4. You can find the diplomatic mission responsible for issuing health codes and their corresponding direct flights between China and the U.S.
5. Samples (nucleic acid and antigen) must be collected and tested at a laboratory institution on the list provided by the Chinese Embassy or Consulates General. See below for the latest list of laboratories accepted by the Chinese Embassy (for the Dallas flight). Please give consent to the sampling agency and testing laboratory to announce the test results and other personal information to the Embassy. The Embassy will contact the issuing agency to verify the authenticity of all the submitted reports and certificates. If any of them cannot be verified, or contain false information, or are deemed altered or forged, the health code will not be issued.
6. Test requirements before your departure:
(1)Within 48 hours before departure (e.g. If the flight departs on Jun 10, the sampling time can be any time on Jun 8 or 9), take the first nucleic acid rt-PCR test at a listed laboratory, and the second one within 24 hours before departure at a different laboratoryon the list (e.g. If the flight departs on Jun 10, the sampling time must be any time on Jun 9).
(2)After 14:00 the day before departure (e.g. If the flight departs on Jun 10, the sampling time can be any time after 14:00 of Jun 9), take the antigen test at listed laboratories.
7. The following documents are to be uploaded for health code application:
(1) Nucleic acid rt-PCR test results.
(2) Flight itinerary.
(3) Passport, Chinese visa or resident permit.
(4) If you are vaccinated, please also upload the Letter of Commitment on COVID-19 Vaccination (see below) and vaccination certificate.
(5) If you have infection history / are a close contact / show symptoms, please upload supplementary documents according to the requirements below.
(6) Antigen test result is not required when applying for the health code. Airlines will inspect the original reports when check-in or boarding in either printed or digital form, and only negative results are accepted.
8. Passengers will receive a“blue code”when all their test results excluding the 12-hour antigen test are verified. Before boarding, passengers will be required to present a negative result of antigen teston top of “blue code”. “Green code” will be issued less often, and those issued are still valid. Passengers holding a “green code” can still be accepted for boarding.