Beijing may refuse entry to Taiwanese visitors with ‘Wuhan coronavirus’ on their test results, Air China says

Taiwanese visitors to mainland China could face problems if their Covid-19 test certificates carry the words “Wuhan coronavirus”, according to Air China. “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. An Air China official, who declined to be named, said that “novel coronavirus” and “Covid-19” were acceptable terms for the pathogen and the disease it causes, as used by the World Health Organization (WHO). 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.<br/>