The Hippocratic principle to first not do harm applies also to public health policymaking. Of this, Su et al.1 remind us. An unprecedented pandemic of harmful travel restrictions and border control measures swept the world during 2020–2023. Su provides examples of how attempts to stop coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) at borders made travellers from China suffer human rights violations and discrimination. Such suffering in fact became universal during the pandemic, as countries entered a global competition in populistic and draconian travel restrictions.