Australia's Covid-19 test requirement for mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau visitors 'racist', sows 'chaos'
Australia's decision to require visitors arriving from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau to test negative for Covid-19 has come under fire from the country's top health official and Chinese-Australians, who described the move as "racist".
Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly last Saturday advised health minister Mark Butler there was not a "sufficient public health rationale" for the measure, which the government rolled out on Sunday.
"I do not believe that there is a sufficient public health rationale for imposing restrictions on travellers from China or any other country with a high burden of Covid-19 cases at present," Kelly wrote in a letter to Butler.
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Kelly also said as there was no "specific threat" from a Covid variant, and with high vaccination rates in Australia, any curbs on China were unnecessary.
He proposed other alternatives, including testing waste water from airlines and voluntary sampling of passengers on arrival, national broadcaster ABC reported.
But minister Butler said the decision to impose the pre-departure testing requirement from Thursday for people travelling to Australia from mainland China and its two special administrative regions was made "out of an abundance of caution".
People on flights transiting through mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau do not need to take a Covid test.
Australia has joined a raft of countries, including the US and Japan, that have implemented similar restrictions as infections soar in China after the government abruptly abandoned its stringent zero-Covid policy.
Opposition leader and China hawk Peter Dutton assailed the Labor minister for sowing "chaos".
"The last thing our country needs is a panicked response from a government that doesn't have a plan and, frankly, over the last week, has been making it up as they go along," Dutton said in a statement.
"Chinese-Australians want to return home after their holidays and need more certainty in their travel plans. Australians expect that their government is prepared for situations like this; instead, we are left with chaos and confusion."
Democracy in Colour, a racial justice group, launched an online petition calling on the health minister to reverse his "bizarre" decision.
"It's unclear why people arriving from China have been singled out by this move when variants and cases in countries like the USA are surging," the NGO said on its website.
Some Australians on social media dubbed the government's announcement "racist" and questioned why it was suddenly worried about imported cases involving Chinese travellers while following a "let it rip" Covid strategy at home.
"The first measure Labor introduces to manage Covid transmission is based on race. It completely ignores the more virulent, immune-evasive strains in the US," said a Twitter user.
Wrote another: "Any particular reason the Chinese are singled out, given Covid is everywhere?"
The travel rule, however, found support from others who sought more measures, including quarantine and double masking to prevent the healthcare system from being burdened.
"Glad to see the government has heeded warnings and taken precautionary measures to control the risk of the spread of new Covid variants."
Former deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth warned the move could derail Australia's attempts to repair its strained ties with China.
"Why put all the effort improving China relations at risk by imposing testing on inbound travellers, given it is unlikely to impact Covid-19 control in Australia?" Coatsworth said on Twitter.
"At some point an 'abundance of caution' becomes an 'excess of caution' or 'a silly application of caution'."
Relations between the two sides plummeted following criticism by Canberra of Beijing's handling of Covid-19. In 2020, China imposed trade sanctions on several major Australian exports.
Last November, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Bali, the first such formal meeting between the leaders of the two countries in six years.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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