Travelers from China as of today are required to take a COVID-19 test upon arrival in Taiwan — a temporary measure during the rapid spread of COVID-19 in China, where government data regarding the surge in cases lack transparency.
The policy was announced on Wednesday, shortly after an abrupt announcement by China on Monday that it would downgrade its COVID-19 management and fully reopen its borders on Jan. 8, dropping self-isolation for confirmed cases and scrapping quarantine requirements for inbound travelers. China’s COVID-19 policy U-turn has reminded the world that the pandemic is not over.
Many countries last year reopened their borders and lifted most or all restrictions, after waves of infections along with vaccinations built up immunity levels. The WHO in September assessed that “the end is in sight,” signaling an optimistic outlook for this year. However, China’s rushed policy reversal has placed the world on high alert and pushed some countries to take immediate action.
After Japan’s introduction of COVID-19 testing on all arrivals from China, a growing list of countries — including Taiwan, France, Italy, Malaysia, South Korea, the UK, the US and others — have followed with similar policies. However, some health experts and politicians have questioned whether the limited restrictions would be effective in curbing infections and preventing new waves of local cases.
The governments of these nations have emphasized that the testing requirements are intended to identify and track potential new variants among the millions of reported new daily infections in China. Leaked information from the Chinese National Health Commission on Dec. 21 showed that its health officials estimated nearly 37 million people were being infected each day, and about 248 million people likely contracted the virus in the first 20 days of last month. Meanwhile, the WHO the next day said it is not receiving any data from China on COVID-19 hospitalizations since it reversed its “zero COVID” policy, and China soon after said it would no longer publish daily COVID-19 data.
China also changed how it counts COVID-19 deaths. It now excludes those who had underlying conditions — which comprise the vast majority of COVID-related deaths in other countries — while its health department on Wednesday reported only 5,231 new cases and three deaths nationwide, and 5,247 deaths from the disease since the pandemic began.
In Italy, health officials on Wednesday said almost half of the passengers on two flights from China — 38 percent on the first flight and 52 percent on the second flight — had tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival. Meanwhile, the British Telegraph newspaper on Friday reported that Beijing since Nov. 29 had only uploaded about 940 SARS-CoV-2 sequences to GISAID, the largest global database for research on the virus, while the UK has shared 7,325 sequences and Denmark 8,723.
“Since the start of COVID-19, China has been sharing relevant information and data in an open and transparent manner with the international community,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) said on Friday. Despite that claim, concerns remain that China is hiding data from the rest of the world.
As Taiwan and many other countries have adapted to living with the virus, it is only reasonable that, when faced with an irresponsible international player unwilling to share data and hampering global efforts to identify new variants, countries would take measures to enhance surveillance and health security to protect their communities.
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