All travellers must now mandatorily bring a Covid-19 negative test certificate to enter Nepal or a vaccine certificate with a bar code.

On Sunday, the national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines, issued a notice to that effect for passengers arriving from abroad.

Ganesh Kumar Ghimire, joint spokesperson at Nepal Airlines, said that the new provision has come in light of the growing Covid-19 cases worldwide.

Several countries, including South Korea and Japan, where Nepal has a high mobility rate, have been witnessing massive spikes in Covid infections.

According to him, the Civil Aviation Authority Nepal made the decision on mandatory Covid-19 international certificate or PCR negative report on December 23, 2022.

On March 10, 2022, Nepal threw the door open to tourists, removing all pre-arrival testing requirements for fully vaxxed travellers in a bid to recharge its moribund tourism industry.

After nearly three years of being largely cut off from the world, Chinese authorities lifted key Covid-related entry restrictions on Sunday.

China has also lifted restrictions on citizens' outbound trips, according to Xinhua, China’s official state news agency.

China has dropped quarantine requirements for all international arrivals, dropping its stringent zero-Covid policy. Prior to that date, inbound travellers had been subjected to five days of hotel quarantine and three days of self-isolation at home upon arrival.

Travellers heading into China now are only required to take a nucleic acid test 48 hours before departure, according to a report.

Kishore Raj Pandey, chairman of Saathi Nepal Travel and Tours, who was the first person to bring Chinese tourists to Nepal in 2001, told the Post in a recent interview that China may allow their citizens to travel outside the country from May 2023.

“China is opening Hong Kong to its citizens in the first stage, and we expect Nepal is also on the priority list.” According to Pandey, millions of Chinese may soon start travelling. “We are hopeful that Chinese tourists will return to Nepal.”

This news has been updated for clarity.