‘Kiwis bigger COVID-19 risk than Chinese travellers’
Auckland: A leading Kiwi epidemiologist, Michael Baker, says rapid antigen testing (RAT) before people board planes from China would help protect passengers from coronavirus infections on flights.
But he doubts there is any point in reintroducing testing for COVID-19 at our borders.
The scale of the COVID-19 outbreak in China has prompted some countries to impose new travel rules, although there are no plans to reintroduce COVID-19 tests at New Zealand’s border once residents of China are free to travel overseas and return without quarantine next month.
From 8 January, arrivals will only have to show a negative RAT taken sometime in the previous 48 hours to be allowed into China, where the virus was first detected in late 2019.
The sudden change in policy is expected to see a surge in Chinese travelling abroad, sparking fears of a new wave of infection.
Testing of passengers on a flight from China to Italy this week found half of them were infected. New Zealand, which once had border restrictions among the world’s tightest, currently has no COVID-19 testing requirements, whether predeparture or on arrival. Japan, Italy, Malaysia, Taiwan and India have all tightened the screws this week in response to China’s growing outbreak.
University of Otago professor and epidemiologist Michael Baker said there was value in pre-departure testing.
“If you have a high proportion of Chinese travellers who are infected when they leave China, that’s obviously going to mean there will be a lot of transmission during the flight - which I think is a real health risk for other travellers,” he told