China blocks visas for S Korea and Japan over Covid restrictions- By Nick Marsh in Seoul- BBC NewsChina has stopped issuing short-term visas to individuals from South Korea and Japan in retaliation for Covid restrictions on Chinese travellers.Beijing says the pause on South Korean visas will remain in place until "discriminatory" entry restrictions against China are lifted.Japan and South Korea are not the only countries imposing entry requirements on travellers from China, where Covid cases are surging, but their measures are among the most stringent.Reacting to China's latest visa restrictions, South Korea's foreign ministry told the BBC that its policy towards arrivals from China was "in accordance with scientific and objective evidence".If a new variant comes from China, it would be a very difficult situation for the whole world," Professor Kim Woo Joo, an infectious diseases expert at Korea University and a government adviser, told the BBC."