Coronavirus: Spain urges Shanghai to clarify rules for vaccinated arrivals
- Spanish consulate says a number of inbound foreign citizens who have had their shots were forced to spend several days in hospital in the city
- No warning was given of ‘surprising and unethical practice’
“In the past few weeks, without any official message from the Chinese authorities, foreign citizens ... that have been vaccinated either with a Chinese or foreign vaccine ... are being put in hospital against their will for three or four days upon arrival in China,” the consulate said in a statement on Thursday.
“Neither the people admitted [to hospital] nor the consulates general in Shanghai were informed of this surprising and unethical practice.”
The German Federal Foreign Office has also updated its travel advice to China, warning that the policy of hospital quarantine for vaccinated inbound arrivals was happening “almost without exception in Shanghai and takes place regardless of whether you have been vaccinated with one of the vaccines approved in Germany or with a Chinese vaccine”.
“People who have already been vaccinated should possibly check whether entry via other airports is an alternative,” the website said.
“The procedure of the local health authorities, in particular the new blood test, is not uniform in this case.”
The Shanghai Health Commission did not respond to a request for comment.