WORD OF THE DAY

Covid 19 coronavirus: Top Australian medical figures in stoush over China Covid treatment

news.com.au

30 Dec, 2022

Victorian AMA president Dr Roderick McRae wants the state to begin quarantining Chinese arrivals for up to a week to tackle inbound Covid cases. Photo / NCA NewsWire

A war of words has erupted between medical leaders over how Australia should handle visitors entering the country from Covid-stricken China.

China is experiencing an explosion in Covid-19 infections and deaths after Beijing reversed its policies and let the virus run rampant.

According to authorities in Italy, 50 per cent of passengers on China flights to the country have Covid-19.

Victorian president of the Australian Medical Association Dr Roderick McRae attracted the ire of industry peers after calling for arrivals from China to be quarantined at Victoria’s Mickleham facility for seven days.

Authorities had to assume every plane arriving at Melbourne Airport from China was “riddled with Covid”, McRae told the Age this week.

“Do we want to fill our hospitals with tourists from China coming to the Australian Open, or do we want to look after Victorians who have already got deferred care, larger cancers in their bodies,” he said.

“It was the circumstances in China that started SARS-COVID-2 … if someone comes off a plane from China coughing or sneezing, they’ve got Covid.”

Top emergency doctor and former Victorian AMA president Dr Stephen Parnis took to Twitter to blast McRae for his hard-line comments.

“I would expect these sorts of crude, inflammatory comments to come from an extremist politician, not a current state AMA leader,” Parnis wrote.

“Our responses to Covid in Dec 2022 must, of necessity, be very different to those of Feb 2020.”

Australia has so far resisted calls to follow countries including the US, UK and France in imposing restrictions or mandatory Covid testing on Chinese arrivals, amid fears from infectious disease experts that concerning new variants could be released overseas.

Another Melbourne doctor, Dr Kate Gregorevic, tweeted that she “absolutely did not stand with” McRae’s comments.

“I look forward to the AMA putting out a statement that will confirm that they do not support labelling people from an ethnic group or country as a threat,” Gregorevic wrote.

It comes as Victorian Covid cases decreased by more than 30 per cent on the previous week, according to new Department of Health data released Friday.

There were 745 people hospitalised and 44 in intensive care due to the virus, with 16,568 new Covid cases reported during the week.

Chief health officer Brett Sutton warned the drop away may be due to lower levels of reporting during the holiday period.

“Covid hospitalisations edged higher in the past week, having stabilised earlier in December,” Sutton said.

Pharmacist prepares medication for a customer at a pharmacy in Beijing. China's National Health Commission scaled down its daily Covid-19 report, in response to a sharp decline in PCR testing since the government eased antivirus measures after daily cases hit record highs. Photo / AP

“The risk of Covid infection can increase through large family and social gatherings.

“It is important to consider older family and friends and those who may be more vulnerable to severe Covid illness.”

Spain, South Korea and Israel on Friday became the latest countries to impose mandatory coronavirus tests on visitors from China.

They join Italy, Japan, India, Malaysia, Taiwan and the United States in requiring negative Covid tests for all travellers from mainland China, in a bid to avoid importing new variants from the Asian giant.

Chinese state media reacted furiously to the restrictions.

“... the real intention is to sabotage China’s three years of Covid-19 control efforts and attack the country’s system,” the Global Times stated in a report.

It also published a cartoon attacking Japan for its policies targeting Chinese citizens.

The paper described the restrictions as “unfounded” and “discriminatory”.