Covid-19: Chinese embassy in Canada urges travellers to follow strict self-isolation rules

China requires passengers to show a negative test from seven days before a journey, to stay home for that period, and provide two more negative results within 48 hours
Embassy claims some people have tested positive on arrival and that they did not self-isolate in the previous week, calling it ‘shocking and unfortunate’

Coronavirus pandemic

Zhao Ziwen

Published: 10:00pm, 19 Jan 2022

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The Chinese embassy in Canada has urged travellers to China to follow Beijing’s strict pre-departure Covid-19 rules requiring them to self-isolate for a week before their journey.

Earlier this month, the embassy said China had seen a “rapid increase” in imported infections from Canada and would tighten the requirements “to reduce risks”.

As of January 14, anyone travelling directly to China from Canada must provide an additional negative PCR test result taken seven days before their flight and self-isolate for that period. They also need to show negative PCR and IgM tests taken within 48 hours of boarding.

In a statement on Wednesday, the embassy said some people had tested positive after arriving in China from Canada and that they had not followed the home quarantine rules – which are self-managed – in the week before they travelled.

“It is shocking and unfortunate that there are still people … going out without permission after double testing, which seriously endangers their own health and public health,” the embassy said, referring to the two tests taken within 48 hours of travel.

“Some went to KTV (a form of karaoke); to game rooms and other entertainment places … some went to restaurants and supermarkets frequently, and some met friends several times before the trip,” the statement said, without saying how many cases were involved.

Officials wearing protective gear work at the Beijing Capital International Airport. Photo: Kyodo

The embassy said people travelling to China should follow the rules. “Do not go out, and do the seven-day health monitoring by filling out the personal health monitoring form truthfully.”

According to that form, a traveller must self-isolate for the week before the journey except for going out to get tested and if they are taking transit flights within Canada. It says passengers must “be aware of the legal consequences in the case of partial or false disclosures”.

China remains intent on sticking to its tough zero-Covid policy, but it is being challenged by the highly infectious Omicron variant. Authorities are grappling with Covid-19 outbreaks across the country, locking down millions of people and imposing travel curbs and compulsory mass testing to try to stamp out clusters.

The numbers remain relatively low – there were just 55 new locally acquired cases and 32 imported infections reported in China on Tuesday – but with Beijing preparing to host the Winter Olympics in just over two weeks and the Lunar New Year approaching, the government is doubling down on its strategy.

Meanwhile in Canada – which reported its first Omicron infection in late November – there was a steep rise in daily cases in December and it reached a peak on January 10 when more than 65,000 new infections were reported.

China has recorded Covid-19 cases among people arriving from Canada since the end of last year in major cities including Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The country’s second Omicron case, reported on December 14, was a traveller from Canada who arrived in Guangzhou after quarantining in Shanghai, according to Chinese health authorities.

And on Monday, the Beijing Centre for Disease Control and Prevention suggested that the source of the city’s first Omicron case, reported over the weekend, could have been a contaminated letter posted from Toronto.

Chinese authorities have repeatedly said the coronavirus has been found on imports, usually frozen goods, but scientists and health authorities elsewhere have rejected this as a route of transmission, saying the virus does not survive long enough on surfaces.

Health Canada responded on Tuesday that “the risk of Covid-19 infection when handling paper mail or cardboard packages, including international mail, is extremely low”.

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