1. In order to prevent infection from long-distance travel after testing, starting from December 23, 2020, passengers traveling to China must get their samples for the nucleic acid rt-PCR and S protein IgM serum antibody tests collected at the departure city and vicinity of their direct flight to China. Passengers must allow for the time to take pharyngeal or nasopharyngeal swabs, venous blood and other sampling in the departure city and vicinity of their flight and wait in place for the test results before the flight. Upon receiving the reports, passengers need to apply for health code from the Chinese Embassy or Consulate General (based on consular jurisdiction), travel before it expires and be prepared for checking by the airlines before boarding.

2. Foreign passengers can apply for health code at https://hrhk.cs.mfa.gov.cn/H5/ .

3. You can find out below the diplomatic mission responsible for issuing health codes and their corresponding direct flights between China and the U.S. (as of September 3).

(1) American Airlines:

AA 127 (Dallas→Shanghai) - Chinese Embassy

(2) Delta Air Lines:

DL 283 (Detroit→Shanghai) - Chinese Consulate General in Chicago

DL 289 (Seattle→Shanghai) - Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco

(3) United Airlines:

UA 857 (San Francisco→Shanghai) - Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco

(4) Air China:

CA 988 (Los Angeles→Beijing/Tianjin) - Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles

CA 770 (Los Angeles→Shenzhen) - Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles

(5) China Southern Airlines:

CZ 328 (Los Angeles→Guangzhou) - Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles

(6) Xiamen Airlines:

MF 830 (Los Angeles→Xiamen) - Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles.

(7) China Eastern Airlines:

MU 588 (New York→Shanghai) - Chinese Consulate General in New York.

4. Samples must be collected and tested at a laboratory institution on the list provided by the Chinese Embassy or Consulates General. See below for the latest list of laboratories accepted by the Chinese Embassy (for the Dallas flight). Please give consent to the sampling agency and testing laboratory to announce the test results and other personal information to the Embassy. The Embassy will contact the issuing agency to verify the authenticity of all the submitted reports and certificates. If any of them cannot be verified, or contain false information, or are deemed altered or forged, the health code will not be issued

(1) Ayass Bioscience

(2) Realtime Laboratories

5. The documents should be uploaded for application:

(1) Nucleic acid rt-PCR and S protein IgM serum antibody tests results;

(2) Flight itinerary;

(3) Passport, Chinese visa or resident permit.

(4) If the S protein IgM serum antibody test result is positive, and you are vaccinated, you can upload supplementary documents according to the vaccine type:

- If you are vaccinated with an inactivated vaccine (Sinovac, SinoPharm), please also upload the Letter of Commitment on COVID-19 Vaccination (see below) and vaccination certificate.

- If you are vaccinated with a non-inactivated vaccine (Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, CanSinoBio), please also upload the Letter of Commitment on COVID-19 Vaccination (see below), vaccination certificate, and the result of N protein IgM serum antibody test.

(5) If you have infection history / are a close contact / show suspected symptoms, please upload supplementary documents according to the requirements below.

6.If passengers are vaccinated, they need to be fully vaccinated before getting health code, i.e. 14 days after the last required shot. For example, if you take the last required shot on September 10, applications on or before September 24 will be declined.

7.Passengers with infection history:

(1) If you were diagnosed with COVID-19 or tested positive for nucleic acid or antibody (not due to vaccination), you are considered as having an infection history.

(2) You can apply for a health code if you meet the following requirements:

- Take two nucleic acid tests with a sampling interval of over 24 hours, and both tests return negative results.

- Take a lung CT or X-ray and have the imaging diagnosis report before the second nucleic acid test.

- Take a self-quarantine for at least 14 days and record your daily body temperature and health conditions after the second nucleic acid test. If you develop any symptoms such as fever, cough, diarrhea during the self-quarantine, take another nucleic acid test. If the result is negative, start a 14-day quarantine again. If the result is positive, you will need to wait until you recover and redo the whole process of Section 5.

- Take the nucleic acid rt-PCR and S protein IgM serum antibody tests (separate tests from the abovementioned ones) before boarding.

8. Close contacts/showing suspected symptoms

(1) Passengers who have had unprotected contact with confirmed, suspected or asymptomatic cases are considered as close contacts.

(2) Close contacts or passengers showing suspected symptoms are expected to self-quarantine for at least 14 days. Please monitor your health conditions and take nucleic acid tests on the 1st, 4th, and 7th day of self-quarantine. Take the nucleic acid rt-PCR and S protein IgM serum antibody tests (separate tests from the abovementioned ones) before boarding.

9. About transit

(1) The Embassy does not issue health code for passengers who fly from the U.S. to China by transiting in a third country.

(2) For passengers who transit in the U.S. and then and fly directly to China:

- No health code will be issued by the Embassy to passengers whose departure country has a direct flight to China.

- For those whose departure country has no direct flight to China, please follow the requirements of Chinese Embassy/Consulates of that country and apply for the health code before coming to the U.S. When transiting in the U.S., please follow the requirements of the Chinese Embassy/Consulates General in the U.S. and apply for the health code for the direct flight for China.

10. When should I be tested? For example, if the boarding date of your outbound flight is November 19th, the sampling date for RT-PCR and IgM antibody tests should be between November 17 and 19.

11. Do babies and toddlers need to be tested? Babies and toddlers under the age of 3 do not need to be tested or apply for a health code.

12. Am I sure to get the health code if I apply as required? Not necessarily. To ensure the health and safety of international travel and reduce the risk of cross-border transmission of COVID-19, the Embassy/Consulates General will decide based on a comprehensive review. Please plan your trip accordingly.

13. This notice, including the requirement that passengers must apply for health code 14 days after vaccination, will be implemented starting from September 14, 2021. In the event of any inconsistency between previously released information and this notice, this notice shall prevail.

Download the Letter of Commitment on COVID-19 here.