Destinations known | China wants all arrivals to test negative for IgM antibodies – here’s what that means

Earlier this year, The New York Times’ science and health reporter Donald G McNeil Jnr made some predictions about the unfolding pandemic: that the United States would suffer from a shortage of medical supplies; that things would not return to normal for quite some time; and that “a lot of us might die”. Dismissed at the time as alarmist, most of his prophecies came true. There is one outlier, though, and it’s perhaps the most dystopian of them all: the prospect of “immunity passports”.

On the April 20 episode of The Times’ podcast, The Daily, McNeil discussed the possibility that those who had recovered from Covid-19 might be able to return to work, dine out in restaurants and cross borders – essentially live their best, pre-pandemic lives – before those who were still at risk of contracting the virus based on an assumption of immunity. Days later, perhaps coincidentally, the World Health Organization issued a “scientific brief” stating, “At this point in the pandemic, there is not enough evidence about the effectiveness of antibody-mediated immunity to guarantee the accuracy of an ‘immunity passport’.”

In something of a plot twist, mainland China recently changed its entry restrictions, requiring all arrivals from November 6 onwards to provide not only a negative test result for Covid-19 but also a negative result from an antibody test. According to the Chinese embassy in the US, these new measures are in place “to reduce cross-border transmission of Covid-19 and protect the health and safety of passengers”.

Chinese online travel agency Trip.com explains the requirements, stating, “All persons (including Chinese nationals) travelling from abroad to destinations in mainland China must have proof of dual negative results for Covid-19 using both a nucleic acid test and a serological test from IgM antibodies. Both tests must be performed no more than 48 hours prior to departure and results must be submitted for approval to a local Chinese embassy or consulate.”

A negative IgM test result means an individual has never been exposed to Covid-19 or has fully recovered after being infected – it’s not an immunity passport, because it can’t distinguish between the two scenarios, but it is another barrier to entry.