England to end pre-departure COVID test rule for arrivals from China

The British government said it would end the requirement for people flying from mainland China to England to provide proof of a negative pre-departure COVID-19 test from April 5.

From Friday, the UK Health Security Agency's voluntary, on-arrival testing programme of travellers arriving from China to London's Heathrow airport will also end, the government said.

"The removal of these measures comes as China has increased information sharing regarding testing, vaccination and genomic sequencing results, providing greater transparency on their domestic disease levels," the health department said in a statement.