Nearly 30 per cent of passengers arriving from Mainland China into Taiwan tested positive for Covid-19 on the first day of new border measures in the country.
According to Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), 524 passengers who arrived from China were tested for Covid-19 on Sunday, with 146 people returning positive results – the equivalent of 28 per cent of travellers.
Due to China’s apparent Covid-19 surge, the CECC decreed that from 1 January all travellers from Mainland China would be required to take a PCR test upon arrival in Taiwan, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported.
Passengers travelling on direct flights from Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Xiamen into Taiwan’s main hub, Taoyuan International Airport, are the main targets for testing, along with those landing in Kinmen and Matsu islands from Xiamen.
With Chinese tourists still banned from Taiwan, the new policy applies mostly to returning Taiwanese citizens, Chinese business travellers, students and those visiting relatives.
CECC spokesperson Chuang Jen-Hsiang said it would be hard to know how Sunday’s results would compare to upcoming tests, but hopes the policy would deter people with Covid symptoms from boarding a flight to Taiwan.
Chuang added that the CECC would conduct genome sequencing testing on positive results each day to try to understand the variants of each city of origin.
The news comes as debate rages over whether or not Chinese travellers should be subjected to extra Covid-19 testing before travelling to what is a growing list of countries, including now Australia.
According to the ABC, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin stated in a press conference that “China always believes that for all countries, COVID response measures need to be science-based and proportionate without affecting normal travel and people-to-people exchange and cooperation”.
“China will, in light of the Chinese people’s inclination for outbound travel, resume outbound tourism to countries where conditions allow,” he said.
IATA warns against travel restrictions
On new rules for travellers from China, IATA director general Willie Walsh said it was “extremely disappointing to see this knee-jerk reinstatement of measures that have proven ineffective over the last three years”.
“Research undertaken around the arrival of the Omicron variant concluded that putting barriers in the way of travel made no difference to the peak spread of infections,” he said in a statement.
“At most, restrictions delayed that peak by a few days. If a new variant emerges in any part of the world, the same situation would be expected.”
Walsh added that governments must base their decisions on “science facts rather than science politics” and “should listen to the advice of experts, including the WHO, that advise against travel restrictions”.
“We have the tools to manage Covid-19 without resorting to ineffective measures that cut off international connectivity, damage economies and destroy jobs.”
Australia’s chief medical officer Paul Kelly also advised the Albanese government not to introduce mandatory testing on travellers from China just before it was announced, the ABC reported.
Among other countries to impose new measures against China travellers are US, Canada, UK, France, Italy, India, Japan and South Korea. Full freedoms remain in place for New Zealand.
