Airlines call for COVID-19 tests before all international flights

 

 

PARIS (Reuters) - Global airlines on Tuesday called for pre-departure COVID-19 testing for all international passengers to replace the quarantines they blame for exacerbating the travel slump.

 

Rapid and affordable antigen tests that can be administered by non-medical staff are expected to become available in “coming weeks” and should be rolled out under globally agreed standards, the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said during an online media briefing.

 

“We don’t see any alternative solution that would be less challenging or more effective,” IATA Director General Alexandre de Juniac said.

 

Airlines hammered by the pandemic are pressing governments to embrace alternatives to blanket travel restrictions that are still hampering a traffic recovery - and now tightening again in Europe amid resurgent case numbers.

 

With rapid antigen tests becoming available for as little as $7 each, De Juniac said, airlines will push for their use to be endorsed by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the U.N. agency that oversees global aviation rules.

 

A global agreement is needed to ensure test results on departure are accepted on arrival, he added. “It will also boost passenger confidence that everybody on the aircraft has been tested.”

 

Antigen tests are faster but generally more likely to miss positive cases of the virus than laboratory-based molecular diagnostic tests.

 

Among companies marketing the new tests, German diagnostics specialist Qiagen said earlier this month it planned to launch a COVID-19 antigen test that provided results in 15 minutes and could be deployed in airports or stadiums.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-09-22

 

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Obvious from the start of lockdowns.

 

Edited September 22, 20205 yr by Enoon

It wasn't that long ago when the UK sent a fully kitted out RAF airliner from Brize Norton to West Africa to pick up NGO personnel that had contracted Ebola and transported them back to UK/NHS.

Fast forward to today and the airlines won't even touch anyone that turns up with hay fever  

I bet such a test is banned for resale in Thailand. Imagine of they allowed DIY testing.

2 hours ago, evadgib said:

It wasn't that long ago when the UK sent a fully kitted out RAF airliner from Brize Norton to West Africa to pick up NGO personnel that had contracted Ebola and transported them back to UK/NHS.

Fast forward to today and the airlines won't even touch anyone that turns up with hay fever  

There is a HUGE difference between sending a military aircraft equipped to isolate and deal with a contagious disease and allowing people who may well be infected with a contagious disease on a commercial airplane carrying hundreds of people with minimum protection from the disease.  

 

4 minutes ago, Credo said:

There is a HUGE difference between sending a military aircraft equipped to isolate and deal with a contagious disease and allowing people who may well be infected with a contagious disease on a commercial airplane carrying hundreds of people with minimum protection from the disease.  

 

You nonetheless got my point.

4 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Antigen tests are faster but generally more likely to miss positive cases of the virus than laboratory-based molecular diagnostic tests.

How is this going to solve the current situation? Governments are not going to relax existing entry requirements with a test that cannot be relied upon. The current laboratory tests are not 100% either. Adding an even less efficacious test to the myriad of increasing travel requirements to me is not any sort of solution.

Edited September 22, 20205 yr by Tounge Thaied
spelling and content

Except for flights to Thailand where will still need an extra suitcase for your entry requirement paperwork and two weeks in a expensive cell no doubt ???? 

This will show up the undetected positives. I personally think everyone should be tested both before departure and on arrival everywhere.

 

Find the countries who lie about their infection rates, will be easy to do, especially with a cheap and quick test.

4 hours ago, Tounge Thaied said:

How is this going to solve the current situation? Governments are not going to relax existing entry requirements with a test that cannot be relied upon. The current laboratory tests are not 100% either. Adding an even less efficacious test to the myriad of increasing travel requirements to me is not any sort of solution.

Perhaps not a solution but possibly a step in the right direction 

What are the chances that these rushed vaccines, the UK already said there would be regular new vaccines each year, will be compulsory?

 

I see airlines, businesses, requiring them if you want to go anywhere. I, for one, welcome unknown mRNA gloop.

13 hours ago, Jack Hna said:

I bet such a test is banned for resale in Thailand. Imagine of they allowed DIY testing.

In fact if I was a passenger on the same flight and the passengers all turned up with a 'negative home test' I would be thinking twice about boarding the same flight, anywhere in the world. 

This sounds like a sensible solution to restore international air travel. It won't be good enough for Thailand with their "zero cases" paranoia, but it will be good enough for many if not most other countries.

 

14 hours ago, evadgib said:

It wasn't that long ago when the UK sent a fully kitted out RAF airliner from Brize Norton to West Africa to pick up NGO personnel that had contracted Ebola and transported them back to UK/NHS.

Fast forward to today and the airlines won't even touch anyone that turns up with hay fever  

 

 

You do understand that there is a difference between an fully kitted out raf airliner for the purpose of transporting Ebola infected. An aircraft prepared for this with the right medical staff and preparations. 

 

Compare that with a commercial airline with no such things and covid. 

 

 

Edited September 23, 20205 yr by robblok

4 hours ago, robblok said:

 

 

You do understand that there is a difference between an fully kitted out raf airliner for the purpose of transporting Ebola infected. An aircraft prepared for this with the right medical staff and preparations. 

 

Compare that with a commercial airline with no such things and covid. 

 

 

Didn't  I read  it was a private  contractor plane  that evacuated the ebola cases?  Or am I thinking of a different evac?  The article I read talked about a company who is capable to do a  total interior plane disassembly and cleaning. 

Edited September 23, 20205 yr by Elkski

3 minutes ago, Elkski said:

Didn't  I read  it was a private  contractor plane  that evacuated the ebola cases?  Or am I thinking of a different evac?  The article I read talked about a company who is capable to do a  total interior plane disassembly and cleaning. 

Probably, but evandgib is trying to make it out that there was nothing special about the plane and by his reasoning airlines should be ok taking on covid people on planes. Bit strange reasoning. Then again nothing surprises me anymore. Logic is severely lacking on this forum.

11 hours ago, ukrules said:

This will show up the undetected positives. I personally think everyone should be tested both before departure and on arrival everywhere.

 

Find the countries who lie about their infection rates, will be easy to do, especially with a cheap and quick test.

It wont show up the Undetected positives in fact the very opposite its an antigen test and Antigen tests are faster but generally more likely to miss positive cases of the virus than laboratory-based molecular diagnostic tests.

 

It will likely miss positive cases so not excatly a great deal of good.

 

17 hours ago, Tounge Thaied said:

22 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Antigen tests are faster but generally more likely to miss positive cases of the virus than laboratory-based molecular diagnostic tests.

How is this going to solve the current situation? Governments are not going to relax existing entry requirements with a test that cannot be relied upon. The current laboratory tests are not 100% either. Adding an even less efficacious test to the myriad of increasing travel requirements to me is not any sort of solution.

Dr Michael Mina (Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health) explained very well that cheap 15-min antigen tests (as low as $1) can detect high viral loads, which is when someone is infectious even as with Covid he/she is often still asymptomatic. The RT-PCR tests will also detect cases that are no longer infectious, besides taking a long time for results,

3 hours ago, placnx said:

Dr Michael Mina (Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health) explained very well that cheap 15-min antigen tests (as low as $1) can detect high viral loads, which is when someone is infectious even as with Covid he/she is often still asymptomatic. The RT-PCR tests will also detect cases that are no longer infectious, besides taking a long time for results,

Interesting article:

 

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/3102628/airlines-want-quick-us10-covid-19-test-replace-quarantine-bid-kick

On 9/23/2020 at 3:20 PM, Caldera said:

This sounds like a sensible solution to restore international air travel. It won't be good enough for Thailand with their "zero cases" paranoia, but it will be good enough for many if not most other countries.

 

Considering Covid-19 can take up to 14 days to test positive from time of exposure, logically the OP test would still mean travellers should be quarantined on arrival at destination. e.g. Here in Australia returnees are regularly testing positive during the quarantine period.