Washington : According to two anonymous sources familiar with the decision, the Biden administration is preparing to ease COVID-19 testing requirements for travelers from China as early as Friday. The administration has reportedly decided to roll back these restrictions due to a decline in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in China, as well as better information about the surge.

These testing restrictions were put in place on December 28 and went into effect on January 5, following a surge in infections in China after the nation had significantly eased pandemic restrictions. U.S. health officials were also concerned about the transparency of their Chinese counterparts regarding the actual number of infections and deaths. At the time, U.S. officials stated that the restrictions were necessary to protect U.S. citizens and communities due to the lack of transparency from the Chinese government about the size of the surge and the circulating variants.