I really don’t want to write this series again, but reality keeps slapping me in the face.
Recently, Chinese embassies and consulates have issued updated quarantine measures for return flights, causing waves.
The core requirement is the requirement for a nucleic acid test and a serum IgM antibody test within 48 hours prior to boarding the plane (referred to as “double testing”), and in the case of a cross-border connecting trip, a second “double test” is required in the country of transit before the flight can be taken.
This requirement will come into effect around November 7, and there are three main changes from the previous requirement.
First, further reducing the “72 hours before boarding” to “48 hours”.
Second, to add “serum antibody test” to the existing “nucleic acid test”.
Thirdly, in addition to the previous requirement of “pre-departure flight testing only”, the requirement of “re-testing is required for each connecting flight” has been added.
Interpretation of the Policy
It’s easy to understand why this policy was introduced: the world is experiencing a second outbreak, and the demand for testing has increased accordingly. As to what “serum IgM antibody testing” means, I’m not a medical expert, so it’s not for me to speculate, but I’ve heard that it’s included in all domestic test reports. I believe it’s never more than necessary.
This policy is still causing waves because the reality is somewhat more difficult.
Further reduction of “72 hours before boarding” to “48 hours”
Shorter times are relatively easy to overcome. As “nucleic acid testing” is no longer an exclusive requirement in China, and is probably practiced in more than half of the world’s countries, the time, difficulty and price of testing are decreasing significantly. The authors are from a small, poor country like Guatemala, where for about 540 RMB, you can have a copy of the nucleic acid results “instantly available. 48h, but the “manoeuvring time” is shorter and not yet critical.
The addition of a “serum IgM antibody test” to the existing “nucleic acid test”.
The addition of a “serum IgM antibody test” is expected to have a greater short-term impact, as most of the test reports currently in use internationally only contain nucleic acid results, not serum tests. , overseas Chinese need to find their own agencies that can do the relevant testing – if you will be flying home soon, it may be quite difficult: whether the agency can be found quickly, whether it can meet the 48h flight requirements, this is not certain. According to past practice, can’t get the test report in time, to be personally responsible for the consequences: this means that there are friends who will fly back to China next week, they are likely to neither return home, nor refund, only to lose the tens of thousands of dollars; this “policy risk “If it’s entirely on the individual, it certainly can’t be called fair.
However, if you’re not leaving soon this month, you probably don’t need to worry too much. After all, the so-called ‘serum antibody test’ is definitely not an exclusive invention of China, and if China can test it, there must be many other countries around the world that can test it. It is only a matter of how much money and effort is spent on solving the problem – friends of China, it is fair to spend some more money and effort for the prevention of epidemic in our country.
In addition to the original requirement of pre-departure testing only, the addition of “each section of the connecting flight also requires re-testing” requirements.
This is the one with the greatest impact. Anyone who has ever flown internationally knows what “connecting” means. In the time it takes to make a connection, it is completely impossible to run out of the airport for a test and wait for the results before boarding. Obviously, the original policy intent was to “deny connections and encourage direct flights”.
However, today most countries around the world, there are no direct flights to China. So far, Europe is the main connecting point for return flights: with the second outbreak of the epidemic, European countries are closing their borders one after another, only connecting flights are allowed, not allowed to enter the country, not allowed to enter the country means that can not do the test, can not do the test can not be on the plane – for most of the friends in the country without direct flights, want to return home is not money! rather than a matter of energy, but rather a distinction between the possible and the impossible.
The main controversy of this policy lies in that.
But one has to move on, know the problem, and we have to try to solve it.
Two embassy multitudes
To be fair, there’s still a bit of a “pragmatic” spirit in the domestic policy-making departments. The new policy generally comes into effect on November 7-8, giving you a week to consult with your friends who are about to fly where you can get the new tests done – they could have just asked for immediate implementation regardless of whether you live or die, and even if they did, there’s not much you can do about it. The goodness of this, we still have to appreciate.
The policy has been enacted, and the rules are to be implemented everywhere – and it looks like it leaves a lot of room for the embassies to maneuver. The response of embassies varies from one embassy to the next; in a larger sense, the human nature of the situation is different.
Canada, for example, is more thoughtful.
It’s a good thing that the Canadian Embassy has taken the initiative to dispense with the “get a health code with a test report” process, as it would only take 48 hours from the time of sampling to the time of boarding, which is the current requirement.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Embassy, while recognizing all the compliance testing agencies, is also kind enough to suggest where you can go for testing.
In short, Canada still conveys a spirit of “we want to help you return home, despite the rules”.
The British Embassy, on the other hand, does not convey the same message.
How is this policy to be understood? It literally says “As UK airports may not be able to detect it, you shouldn’t come to the UK for a connecting flight either, and even if you have a test report, I won’t issue you with a health code to allow you to board. “
What an embassy should do in such a difficult situation is of course to try and negotiate with the local international transit airport to have additional screening points where Chinese passengers can be tested and transferred directly without entering the country, thus meeting the needs of returning passengers and significantly reducing the risk of roadside infections.
The British Embassy, on the other hand, has not only failed to communicate, but has simply refused to certify – meaning that even if Heathrow Airport, for example, were to take the initiative to set up additional inspection points in the spirit of convenience for Chinese travellers, even if they were able to obtain a certificate of authenticity, they would not be able to do so. The “double-negative” result is also completely useless; the Embassy in the UK refuses to convert the passenger’s test result into a health code that is required for boarding. As a result, the “connecting flight home from the UK” has been cut off by the Embassy’s initiative.
This can only be evaluated in eight words: “the motive is despicable, the means is low”.
III. Implications of the follow-up
The implications of this policy fall broadly into three categories.
- The passenger’s country has direct flights to China.
This is the easiest situation, which is to find an institution that can test for serum antibodies in a timely manner, which probably won’t be too difficult, given that the countries with which China can fly directly are not usually the poorest countries. But the direct flight will certainly rise in price, is inevitable.
2、The passenger’s country does not have a direct flight to China, but he or she has a U.S. visa.
The United States currently has no entry restrictions for travelers, you can first pick up the U.S., and then buy a direct flight to China, and in the U.S. to complete 48h before the dual inspection, the U.S. currently has direct flights with China in major cities can find testing agencies (specific where to ask the local embassy or consulate, I do not know); for friends in Central and South America, this is the most convenient route back to China.
Of course, there are always inconvenient places, like I have friends in Norway, which will have to turn 3/4 of the world, but the United States in the end has the most flights to China, after all, is the easiest way to return home.
3, the passenger’s country does not have a direct flight to China, I also do not have a U.S. visa.
This is the most troubling scenario, with multiple European countries currently only having connecting flights that are inaccessible, and local European embassies apparently not interested in assisting with airport testing issues – not making it as difficult as the UK is already amenable. Perhaps countries in the Middle East/Turkey/Thailand that accept international visitors and have direct flights to China could be used as a route; but with limited routes to these countries, usually only one or two flights a week, the increased difficulty under the new policy is to be expected.
In short, a bizarre situation has emerged: whether or not a foreigner has a U.S. visa has become the key for most foreigners to return to their home country; and a Chinese who wants to return to his home country from overseas has the U.S. president to thank for it: if the U.S. were not as free to come and go as it is now, and also engaged in the shutdown policy, foreigners would lose the U.S. as an important transit position, and the difficulty of returning home would be multiplied several times.
Of course, this also gives rise to a series of questions such as whether and how U.S. policy will change if Chong Pu is defeated next week, but unknown life knows death, and at this time, can’t say so much.
As for the repeated trips to various countries to test points inevitably increase the risk of infection, this is not in China’s consideration, the motherland still prefers healthy you.
“There has never been any savior, nor does it depend on the God Emperor. To create the happiness of mankind, it all depends on us” – a special time, everyone’s own cherished strike.
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