Report: Australia's Health Chief Urged Against COVID Checks for PRC Flights

Facts

• Internal documents made public on Tuesday, reveal that Australia's Chief Medical Officer, Paul Kelly, had advised the government against imposing any restrictions on travelers coming from China just a day before Canberra announced new testing requirements.
• Kelly argued to Health Minister Mark Butler that there was no "sufficient public health rationale" for new travel rules, citing Australia's high level of vaccination and prior infection as well as the fact that the BF.7 Omicron subvariant was already circulating in the country.
• Instead of travel restrictions, Kelly suggested that the government consider expanding wastewater testing, implementing volunteer-based sampling for international arrivals, and improving follow-up of people who test positive for COVID and recently traveled overseas.
• On Sunday, Australia joined the growing list of countries to implement COVID testing for travelers from China, announcing that they will have to submit a negative test before departure starting this Thursday.
• Travelers whose flights originate from China — including Australian citizens — must use a PCR-style test or a rapid test to demonstrate they were COVID-negative. Exceptions are children, airline crew, and those that can prove they have recovered from the virus in the previous 30 days.
• This comes as the PRC recently relaxed its restrictions and requirements for residents, changing its policy from "zero-COVID" to "living with the virus" amid reports that the nation has been facing a severe spike in infections.

Sources: CNN, Guardian, Al Jazeera, Wall Street Journal, The Age, and Sky News.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by The Sydney Morning Herald. It's unacceptable that the Australian government has imposed new restrictions claiming they were out of an abundance of caution even though available evidence and scientific information indicate that Australians have already been exposed to variants circulating in China. Rather than protecting the nation, this move will only interrupt family reunions and affect the country's economic activity.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by The Guardian. The Australian government is right to adopt precautionary measures as China arrivals resume. Although an imminent public health threat is unlikely, China has long failed to provide trustworthy information so other variants could be circulating unreported there. This is a prudent move given the extraordinary mass infection occurring in the PRC.

Predictions