Travelers from Taiwan are barred from entering mainland China if their COVID-19 test reports carry the term “Wuhan pneumonia,” according to rules recently announced by mainland airlines.

Passengers from the self-ruled island will be turned away from the mainland if their health certificates fail to use COVID-19 to refer to the coronavirus, China Southern Airlines said on Thursday.

“The World Health Organization has announced the official name of the virus as COVID-19. Passengers are reminded to use the official name in their nucleic acid test certificates to avoid confusion. Those with incorrect names will be refused entry,” the airline said in a notice posted to its Taiwan branch.

Two other mainland airlines that run flights across the strait, Air China and Shenzhen Airlines, announced similar rules through travel agencies in Taiwan on Thursday, saying test reports using the term “Wuhan pneumonia” are banned.

One Taiwan traveler who operates businesses in Guangdong told Taiwan’s Central News Agency that test reports issued by most Taiwan hospitals used “the 2019 coronavirus” or “COVID-19” instead of “Wuhan pneumonia.” The new measure was more of a political gesture, the person was quoted as saying.

Responding to the measure, Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang said the island would respect other countries’ requirements on tests to facilitate travels by its people.

The mainland announced in October that all passengers from Taiwan must produce health certificates showing they had tested negative for COVID-19 72 hours before take-off..

Beijing has protested against naming the coronavirus after Wuhan, where COVID-19 was first reported late last year, arguing that doing so was an act of stigmatization.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has banned reporters from mentioning the Wuhan virus when asking questions during government press briefings.

Click here for Chinese version

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play