Fast track to a visa: Taking China’s vaccines

Chinese embassies in a growing number of countries, including the U.S., have begun requiring that foreigners entering China must first be fully inoculated with a Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine if they want to avoid extensive paperwork requirements.

That rule may make the visa process difficult for people in countries like the U.S. and most nations in Europe, where no Chinese-made vaccines have been approved for use.

The move puts diplomatic pressure on other countries to give regulatory approval to Chinese vaccines. Beijing has not allowed vaccines developed in other countries to be produced or administered in China.

Details: The rules, which enable visitors to bypass strict requirements like a negative nucleic acid test, detailed health and travel records, and a government agency invitation, currently apply to visitors from Hong Kong, Britain, Japan, Norway, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, the United States, Vietnam and at least a dozen other countries.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

The European Medical Agency said the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine, under scrutiny after reports of blood clots in a handful of vaccinated people, far outweigh the risks. About a dozen countries have suspended its use, setting back an already fraught inoculation campaign in Europe.
Papua New Guinea, which had largely avoided the coronavirus, is now sounding the alarm over an outbreak. Nearly half of the country’s 2,269 infections to date were reported in the last two weeks.
The New York Times