Most EU countries back COVID pre-departure testing for flights from China

FILE PHOTO: European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides delivers a speech on the EU's Role in Combatting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Pandemic and How to Vaccinate the World, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, November 24, 2021. Julien Warnand/Pool via REUTERS

Most European Union countries favour introducing pre-departure COVID testing for travellers from China, the European Commission said on Tuesday, as Beijing plans to lift travel restrictions on its citizens despite a wave of COVID infections.

The common EU approach emerged after a meeting on Tuesday of the Health Security Committee, an EU advisory body of national health experts from the EU-s 27 countries and chaired by the Commission.