Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Time Pressure; Communication Breakdown; Workload
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed
Procedure; MEL; Human Factors; Company Policy; Environment - Non Weather Related
All the pilots met in operations. The FOs all went to the aircraft. I remained in operations to call Dispatch to add fuel. I called several times and could not get anyone to pick up the phone. I gathered my things and walked to the aircraft. On arrival at the aircraft; the Relief was doing a great job of preparing the galley of aircraft with the catered amenities. He discovered an issue with catering. It was past the expiry date. He was working diligently to problem solve and find out when the food was made. We proceeded to get the aircraft ready for the flight. I had to stop my efforts; and go back to assist with the issue of the catering; as well as; made additional calls to Dispatch. I was finally able to reach the Dispatcher; and requested an additional 7;000 lbs of fuel. I was extensively questioned about my decision to add fuel and insisted the weather was fine along the route.  The Dispatcher was consuming significant time and pulled me away from the other pressing issues that needed my attention; so I did not have time to explain all the issues with the fuel load. We had a placard in the log book that needed to be addressed. I contacted maintenance and the MEL tracking and control item list (item XXXXX.Y) requires written permission from the station; and was unable to establish that written permission. Due to the abundance of issues; we were delayed in our pushback. Approximately several hours into the flight; we received a message from Dispatch stating ZZZZ requires COVID-19 testing for all crew members.We tried to ascertain further information about hotels and new procedures that were not applicable to us and were unable to get any information. As a crew we made the decision to divert. We contacted Dispatch and were told to return to ZZZ. I went back on my break; and was informed upon my return that the flying  pilots had attempted to contact Dispatch with no response for the entire return leg home. Landing was normal.Unable to get information about procedures in Country X. Unable to get location of quarantine. Unable to get procedures on leaving Country X. All crew felt it best to not land at ZZZZ until all details are known.The color codes that the caterers use needs to be in briefing guide to determine freshness of meals.  Required station signature from tack needs to be available in guide.
Several hours after takeoff the Relief Pilot and I came off our break. The Captain and FO told us about a message received over ACARS detailing COVID-19 testing we can expect upon arrival in ZZZZ.We seriously considered the implications of the message and decided rather than risk being compelled into having medical procedures performed on us and possibly being held for an indeterminate amount of time; we diverted back to ZZZ.An ancillary point worth noting in this report is that on our return Dispatch went dark. We requested multiple times for them to update the system with our divert. But we didn't get a response nor were we able to obtain an updated Flight Progress strip.
Air carrier flight crew reported being notified in flight that the destination city required a COVID-19 test upon arrival. Based on multiple concerns with the testing process; the crew elected to return to their departure airport.