Embassies: Travelers to China Must Provide Antibody Test

Original Joey Knotts theBeijinger

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#COVID-19 7

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With a slew of embassy announcements making the rounds today, it appears that China will begin requiring all incoming passengers to present a negative COVID antibody test (in addition to their negative nucleic acid test) before boarding a direct flight to the country.

As of press time, the requirement has yet to be formalized across the board by any Chinese ministry, but a number of Chinese embassies – including those in the US, UK, Ireland, Italy, and Poland – have announced that the rule will apply to travelers departing their countries.

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The move may be motivated by a number of cases in which COVID-19 patients were released from treatment only to later test positive for the virus once again. It’s not entirely clear whether these cases are caused by reinfection or because the patients’ symptoms subsided and the nucleic acid test gave a false negative, but China seems to think the latter is a large enough risk that it now wants to ban travelers who have ever had COVID, which can be revealed with an antibody test.

In fact, passengers were already being administered an antibody test upon arrival, but this is the first time the country has required the test before boarding a direct flight.

Would-be returnees should be sure to check with the Chinese embassy in their country for further requirements such as which institutions are qualified to provide acceptable test results, and what the acceptable timeframe is between receiving the test and boarding a flight. Also, expect to undergo a number of additional nucleic acid tests after arrival, including at customs and after completing quarantine.