'Fast track' challenged for inbound passengers as embassies...

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With setting a "fast track" for personnel exchanges and requiring pre-departure health QR codes for overseas passengers, China is gradually pushing a global mechanism of mutual health status recognition to drag the world to the path of recovery amid the pandemic. However, as for China, the only entity that has maintained economic growth amid the pandemic, it is not easy to lead the formation of a global health recognition mechanism in which people from different countries can use the universal health code and fast track for recovery. 

The Japanese embassy in China announced on Friday that China will officially open a fast track with Japan on November 30, when Japan will start accepting visa applications for business passage.  

The "fast track" is a "work-resumption expressway" for the personnel exchanges between foreign-invested enterprises amid the virus outbreak. According to the mechanism, relevant people do not need to be quarantined for 14 days after arrival; they only need to travel with a China-recognized health code. 

Also on Friday, the Chinese Embassy in Singapore announced that starting December 1, all China-bound foreign travelers from Singapore need to hold a QR health code for boarding, which means that the nucleic acid and IgM anti-body test results will no longer valid. 

At least over a dozen embassies recently announced the new policy (basically the premise of "fast track" in the future), including South Korea, Japan, France and the US. For foreign passengers, they just need to do as Chinese people - fill in basic information and upload pictures of testing certificates.   

Among countries in which Chinese embassies have announced the new pre-boarding policy, South Korea, Singapore and Japan have come close to China in pushing the global mechanism. 

However, the "fast track" has been clouded by the resurgence of the coronavirus. Japan and South Korea reported 1,861 and 569 COVID-19 cases on Thursday, respectively, and both countries are seen as experiencing a third wave. 

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday that the next three weeks are vital to containing the epidemic, and people should cooperate with the government, wear masks, wash their hands frequently, and avoid crowded places. South Korea's disease control and prevention authority said on Thursday that it expects the spread of COVID-19 in the country to continue this week, and will discuss further upgrades to its epidemic response level if necessary, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The fast track is likely to shrink its passenger volume, and Customs may impose stricter quarantine measures.

Source: globaltimes

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