The Australian government is standing firm on its policy to not require incoming travellers from China to test negative for Covid, despite the UK and France joining the list of countries imposing such restrictions.
The Australian Medical Association president, Steve Robson, backed the position on Saturday, saying there was not enough data yet to show that testing every passenger would be beneficial.
But he called for more transparency, here and overseas.
“I think we’re in a situation where Australians are looking to understand the federal government’s decision-making around arrivals from China,” Robson said.
It was incredibly difficult to understand or create good public health policies when there were such enormous gaps in our understanding of the Covid situation unfolding in China, he said.
“There are major surveillance gaps issues, and China has to absolutely step up in telling us what is going on in terms of numbers, rates of people infected, types of variants,” he said. “It’s causing mass confusion in countries around the world.”
China ended its strict Covid zero policy on 7 December after three years of keeping its borders shut and imposing strict lockdowns, and case numbers had since climbed sharply.
UK-based health data firm Airfinity estimated about 11,000 people a day were dying of the disease in China, and countries including the US, France, Spain, Italy, Japan and Taiwan had announced some form of restrictions or testing for travellers coming from China.
In Australia, medical experts were divided over whether negative tests for travellers from China should be required. Victoria’s Australian Medical Association president, Roderick McRae, causing controversy on Thursday when he said “every jet that comes into Tullamarine from China” should be treated as if it was “riddled with Covid”.
“Do we want to fill our hospitals with tourists from China coming to see the Australian Open, or do we want to look after Victorians who have already got deferred care, larger cancers in their bodies?” he told the Age. But he sparked a backlash, with the Melbourne geriatrician Dr Kate Gregorevic calling on Twitter for the AMA to put out a statement rejecting his comments.
Robson agreed that Victorians had cause to be wary of case increases, with the current wave of Covid “crushing the health system”. But the lack of transparency made it impossible to have a calm discussion about testing arrivals, he said.
“I think we need a very careful explanation from the government, whether it’s the prime minster or health minister, we need transparency around the public health advice,” Robson said.
“I understand why people are calling for this, I get it, but I want to see the information so we can rationally critique it to see if people are right in making calls for more testing or not. It’s impossible to tell.”
On Saturday the federal Department of Health declined to say if the policy would be reviewed, referring back to comments made by the chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, on Thursday, when he told the ABC he would not be comfortable introducing negative test requirements.
“The biggest issue in China that we need to watch is the emergence of other variants, and at this stage that hasn’t happened,” he said.
Prof Adrian Esterman, the chair of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of South Australia, said the decision to require a negative test was not driven by medical advice.
“I don’t think it’s necessary at this point in time,” he said. “Many countries are doing it, including the US and Israel, but it’s primarily a political decision, not a public health one,” Esterman said.
“Other countries have been testing Chinese visitors. Someone suggested that we would be better off testing the wastewater from planes coming from China, which would be a sensible solution.
“There’s no need to panic.”
