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HONG KONG, Dec.19 (SCMP): Taiwanese visitors to mainland China could run into trouble if their Covid-19 test certificates bear the words “Wuhan coronavirus,” according to flag carrier Air China.
“With regard to passengers 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 bearing the official term. ‘ Covid-19 ‘or’ new coronavirus, ‘”the company said in a notice to Taiwanese travel agents on Wednesday.
“If your certificates bear the words ‘Wuhan coronavirus,’ they will be considered void,” Air China said, adding that any missing or invalid paperwork could result in passengers being denied entry upon arrival.
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An Air China official, who declined to be named, said in an interview that “new coronavirus” and “Covid-19” were acceptable terms for the pathogen and the disease it causes, as used by the World Health Organization. (WHO).
If the papers with the test results of a passenger did not use the correct terminology, “it could result in the deprivation of the rights of entry,” he said.
Wuhan is the city in central China where the coronavirus was first identified late last year, but Beijing has tried to prevent its name from being indelibly linked to the pathogen.
Another of China’s airlines, China Southern, posted a similar warning to passengers on its Taiwan-based website on Thursday. All clients must use the official name of Covid-19 in their test results, he said.
Under current rules, people traveling to mainland China from Taiwan can be denied boarding if they cannot provide a certificate proving they tested negative for the coronavirus in the last 72 hours.
The term “Wuhan coronavirus” is used frequently in Taiwan, including by government officials and medical institutions testing for Covid-19.
When Taiwanese Minister of Health Chen Shih-chung was asked earlier in the year why Taiwan continued to use the phrase, even after the WHO had started using Covid-19, he replied, “It’s where the virus, making it easy to remember. “
Taiwan has been widely praised for its handling of the coronavirus. Since the start of the health crisis, the island of some 24 million people has reported just 759 cases and seven deaths. It has not reported a local infection since April. – South China Morning Mail:
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