Newsroom

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.

In a notice on its website on Thursday, the Chinese Embassy in Canada announced 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.

Also on Thursday, the Chinese Embassy in South Korea issued a similar notice, requesting China-bound passengers to apply for a green QR code based on a similar requirement.

The announcements came after previous announcements by Chinese embassies in the US and France that both set December 1 as the beginning of new rules for China-bound passengers.

In all these cases, Chinese passengers can file for the green health code through the WeChat Health Code app, while foreign passengers are required to log into a website for a health declaration certificate. The passengers need to fill in their information, upload negative test certificates and other documents, which will then be reviewed and verified by the embassies or consulates.

"Building a global code system would be much more difficult than that, and 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," the expert said, noting that on top of technical details, mutual trust is essential to make the first step.

Source: Global Times