China pushes health code based on tests, eyes global mechanism
More Chinese embassies have joined the push for pre- departure health codes based on coronavirus nucleic acid and antibody tests, a prerequisite for China- bound travels, which can shed light on how a global mechanism for mutual health code recognition will look like.
The Chinese Embassy in Canada announced on Thursday that Chinese and foreign passengers flying directly from Canada to China should take nucleic acid and IgM anti- body tests within two days before departure starting December 1.
The specimen need to be collected in Canada and passengers are required to request a QR code with an HS mark ( applicable to Chinese) or HDC mark ( applicable to foreigners) with the Chinese Embassy or Consulate General in Canada based on two negative certificates, also within two days before departure, the notice said. The practice of presenting test results prior to boarding will be discontinued.
Chinese embassies in South Korea, the US and France have issued similar announcements of the new policy.
With more Chinese embassies joining the test- centered health code push that offers a plausible yet convincing approach to ensure safe international travel, it seems that the China- proposed global mechanism for mutually recognized health codes is taking shape, observers said.
The establishment of such an international mechanism was proposed by the Chinese leadership at the 15th G20 Leaders’ Summit earlier this month.
Besides concerns on privacy and coordination challenges of the system itself, some experts also noted that medical institutions and hospitals issuing test results must be credible to guarantee the smooth operation of such a system based not only on technology but also on mutual trust.
The system will resume international exchanges while ensuring public health, said Bai Ming, deputy director of the Ministry of Commerce’s International Market Research Institute, stressing that an inaccurate negative result will mislead receiving countries and hinder the curb of the virus.
Operating such a code system within a country requires lots of administrative resources and building a global one would be much more difficult than that. China, which has successfully established such a system to emerge from the virus, is willing to share its experiences to accelerate the resumption of global personnel and goods exchanges, analysts said, noting that on top of technical details, mutual trust is essential to make the first step.