Will new Covid testing rules for China prevent the spread of new variants?

The European Commission has said that the “overwhelming majority” of its 27 member states want passengers from China to receive systematic testing for Covid-19 prior to their arrival in the EU.

Ahead of a crisis meeting today to coordinate a response to the explosion of Covid cases in China, EU health ministers agreed that Chinese travellers must be subjected to “pre-departure testing”.

Ministers also advised that wastewater from flights arriving from China should be analysed for traces of new Covid variants and recommended that further increased surveillance measures should be introduced.

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The UK has also announced the introduction of enhanced screening measures, with travellers from China having to present a negative lateral flow or PCR test before boarding any flight to Britain.

Other countries – including the US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, India, Malaysia and France – have all brought in similar requirements.

Covid cases are surging in China after restrictions were reduced following mass protests at the country’s stringent lockdown and anti-Covid measures.

But Beijing called the decision to implement measures specifically targeting Chinese travellers “unacceptable”.

“Some countries have implemented entry restrictions targeting only Chinese travellers. This has no scientific basis, and some practices are unacceptable,” said foreign affairs spokesperson Mao Ning yesterday. Beijing could “take countermeasures, following the reciprocity principle”, she warned.

What did the papers say?

Global scrutiny of Chinese travellers is part of a wider effort to understand the severity of the surge of China’s Covid-19 infections and to prevent the country from unleashing “a new coronavirus mutant on the world,” said CBS News.

The World Health Organization has been seeking detailed information about the evolution of the virus in China, and has asked for data on hospitalisations, deaths and vaccinations.

Since the Chinese Communist Party announced an abrupt U-turn on Covid controls in early December, “the accuracy of its case and mortality data have come under increasing scrutiny at home and abroad”, Reuters said.

It is plain that the “numbers of officially reported Covid-19 cases are at odds with scientific estimates of the situation”, said Professor Devi Sridhar, the chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, in The Guardian.

“While official estimates suggest there are 4,000 cases of Covid a day, scientists estimate the number is more like 1 million.” And the country’s official death toll is “similarly unreliable”, Sridhar added. “The lack of transparency from the Chinese government, and the lack of trust in what it’s saying about its domestic outbreak, has prompted concern across the world.”

According to Bloomberg, the “tsunami of Covid-19” that is spreading across the country “is spurring concern that a dangerous new virus variant could emerge for the first time in more than a year, just as genetic sequencing to catch such a threat is dwindling”.

What next?

Beijing maintains that travel entry restrictions are unlikely to stop the spread of new variants, and are politically rather than scientifically motivated.

“We are willing to improve communication with the world,” Mao said. “But… we are firmly opposed to attempts to manipulate the epidemic prevention and control measures for political purposes.”

Beijing’s reluctance to accept the scientific validity of increased screening for Chinese travellers has “met pushback in Europe,” Politico said, with France’s Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne insisting she didn’t see anything wrong with France’s testing strategy.

“My government is within its role, by protecting French people and asking for tests,” Borne said yesterday morning on Franceinfo.

China’s government is “intent on protecting its reputation and spinning official political narratives rather than providing transparency”, said Sridhar, but it is important to remember that “China is not just its government: its people are now facing their worst wave of Covid-19 yet, and its scientists are providing the world with valuable data, often at a great cost to themselves.”