GABORONE -- Botswana won't test travelers upon arrival, unlike some Western countries that have imposed restrictions targeting travelers from China, the country's Health Minister Edwin Dikoloti said Thursday.

Botswana trusts China's strategy of containing any kind of highly virulent diseases, especially COVID-19, as China did successfully when the epidemic broke out, the minister told Xinhua by phone.

There is no need to doubt China's ability in fighting viral diseases, he said.

"In fact, Botswana gained a lot from the ideas shared by China when the pandemic reached our shores in March 2020. If it were not for China, Botswana would have lost many lives," he said.

The West must allow science to guide the fight against COVID-19 because politicizing the disease won't help; instead, it would reverse the gains achieved so far, he added.