Beijing may refuse entry to Taiwanese visitors with ‘Wuhan coronavirus’ on their test results, Air China says
- Health certificates that use the phrase ‘will be deemed void’ and may result in passengers being refused entry on arrival, flag carrier says
- Beijing has sought to create distance between the deadly pathogen and the city in which it was first identified at the end of last year
“Regarding passengers who are taking cross-strait flights and need to provide a Covid-19 negative polymerase chain reaction certificate issued within 72 hours, they are reminded to provide the certificates that bear the official term ‘Covid-19’ or ‘novel coronavirus’,” the company said in a notice to Taiwanese travel agents on Wednesday.
“If their certificates carry the words ‘Wuhan coronavirus’ they will be deemed void,” Air China said, adding that any missing or invalid paperwork could result in passengers being refused entry on arrival.
If a passenger’s test result papers failed to use the correct terminology it “could result in the deprival of the rights of entry”, she said.
Wuhan is the central China city in which the coronavirus was first identified at the end of last year, but Beijing has sought to prevent its name becoming indelibly linked to the pathogen.
Another of China’s airlines, China Southern, published a similar warning to passengers on its Taiwan-based website on Thursday. All customers should use the official name for Covid-19 on their test results, it said.
