Israel announced on Friday that it would be imposing travel restrictions on visitors arriving from China, where a surge of coronavirus cases has struck the east Asian country following the relaxing of its zero-Covid policy.

Foreign airlines will require foreign citizens flying from China to Israel to be tested for the virus. Also, voluntary sampling stations will be established for Israelis and foreign citizens, new Health Minister Aryeh Deri said.

In doing so, Israel joins other countries adding travel rules for flights from China amid concern about the spread of a new variant of the disease. Spain on Friday became the second European country to impose travel restrictions on arrivals from China — to enter the country, passengers will need to have a negative Covid test result or be fully vaccinated. Spain follows Italy's announcement earlier this week to conduct mandatory testing. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that so far no new variants were detected among passengers arriving from China.