Many countries have imposed COVID-19 checks on Chinese travellers. The difference is between those who acted with undue haste, making a political decision, and those who delayed the decision, acting on the basis of health advice. Some countries appear to have used this decision as a political tool in part of a broader strategy that paints China unfavourably.
The UK in particular acted against the advice from its own health authorities. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to impose COVID-19 checks on travellers from China is described by some health experts as a purely political manoeuvre that would make no difference to the rise or fall of cases in the UK.
Chief Medical Adviser Chris Whitty told Health Secretary Steve Barclay there was no clear evidence of significant benefits from testing travellers from China.
The Observer newspaper reported that Barclay discussed the issues with Sunak, who still decided it was more important for Britain to align itself with those nations – the US, Japan, Italy and Spain – that had already imposed such testing requirements. This became a political decision driven by Sunak’s anti-China sentiment.
“I don’t think it’s likely the UK will get any public health benefit from this measure” said Professor Mark Woolhouse of Edinburgh University. “This can only have been done for political reasons”.
Australian infectious diseases expert Paul Griffin said he did not agree with the move from some countries to place entry restrictions on people travelling from China. “I think that the practicality and the feasibility … outweighs any potential benefit of implementing those sort of measures”.
“And I would have liked to think we’ve learned from that by now and we just focus, once again, on those basics to minimise the impact of this virus, wherever it is”.
The health advice suggests that pre-departure tests for travel out of or into China are a waste of time when it comes to preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Paul Tambyah, president of the Asia-Pacific Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infection in Singapore said despite China’s reopening, there is no need for Singapore to toughen its entry requirements for travellers from China. The incidence of new cases in China appears to be no higher than in other countries such as Germany, France and the United States, and there is no evidence that travel restrictions are effective.
A number of countries, including Australia, imposed the COVID-19 testing as a way of tracking the emergence of new COVID-19 variants. Australian Health Minister Mark Butler, acting on heath advice, said “the decision to implement these temporary measures has been made out of an abundance of caution, taking into account the dynamic and evolving situation in China and the potential for new variants to emerge in an environment of high transmission”.
This conclusion is backed by UK Professor Woolhouse: “another reason for imposing the tests has focused on the need to track potentially dangerous new COVID-19 variants”.
Nonetheless, this data collection justification also reveals a political component because it gets applied inconsistently.
Woolhouse said “but we already know of one variant that is spreading rapidly in the US. Variant XBB.1.5 now accounts for about 40 per cent of cases in the US, but no one in the UK seems worried about it. Instead, a lot of noise is being made about hypothetical variants emerging in China”.
It is crucial to track the potential emergence of new variants so that action can be taken to manage their impact. This is an essential part of any living with COVID-19 strategy. Data collection sits at the core of this management strategy. This is good science when it’s applied to all travellers, particularly from countries with high infection rates including the UK, or low vaccination rates, like the US.
It is reasonable in some cases to apply pre-flight PCR testing as a way of tracking the
development of new variants. This is a data collection exercise and it’s essential that all the
genomic information to be fed quickly and seamlessly into the internationally available data base. Except in cases of significant infection, it is not reasonable to apply this testing as a means of excluding or hindering travel.
Reliable, consistent and shared data collection through shared testing results is an essential COVID-19 management tool. The processes are a travel irritation, but there’s no reason they should be used to hinder or prevent travel by Chinese or any other tourists. Chinese tourists, like those from any other country, can be welcomed as a vital component of a re-emerging global tourism industry and that helps to drive the global economy.
CGTN
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