China has suspended issuing short-term visas in South Korea and Japan, after it would retaliate against countries that required negative COVID-19 tests from Chinese travellers.

China ditched mandatory quarantines for arrivals and allowed travel to resume across its borders.

But the virus is spreading unchecked across the nation, and worries over its scale and impact prompted nations to require a negative COVID result from travellers coming from China.

In a retaliatory move, the Chinese embassies in both South Korea and Japan suspended issuing the visas.

China has also stopped releasing daily infection tallies, and has received criticism for its data transparency over its numbers.