China bridles as EU states prepare to scale up Covid monitoring

Spain joins Italy in requiring arrivals to show a negative result as Chinese state media calls move discriminatory'

European countries are preparing to scale up the monitoring of potential new coronavirus variants from China, as Spain becomes the second EU state to bring back mandatory testing at airports in response to Beijing's rapid rollback of anti-infection measures.

Spain on Friday followed Italy's lead by requiring arrivals from China to show a negative test result, though unlike Rome it makes exceptions for those who can prove they are fully vaccinated.