The vast majority of the countries of the European Union are committed to requesting covid-19 tests from all travelers from China before they even leave the country in response to the rise in infections in the Asian giant.
They are also inclined to recommend personal hygiene measures for travelers, including a recommendation to wear a mask on flights from China, control of sewage from planes, monitor the entry of new variants at airports and improve virus sequencing, among other measures.
These are the ideas on which the experts of the Member States have “agreed” at their meeting on Tuesday, as summarized on the social network Twitter by the Health Commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, once the meeting ended.
In recent days, countries such as Italy, Spain, France, the US, India, the United Kingdom, Australia or Japan, among others, have announced restrictions and PCR tests on travelers from China, and Morocco has even banned entry to the country.
BEIJING CLASSES THE MEASURES “DISPROPORTIONATE”
The Chinese authorities have expressed great discomfort at the restrictions imposed in various countries, especially in the European Union (EU), on travelers from Chinese territory due to the disproportionate increase in covid cases detected coinciding with the sudden opening of the drastic restrictive measures maintained by the Beijing regime.
In this sense, Beijing described the restrictions on Tuesday as “disproportionate” and “unacceptable”.
The Asian country, which has registered an exponential increase in covid cases in recent weeks, announced at the end of December that on January 8 it will withdraw the requirement for quarantines at entry to the country that had been in force since March 2020.
In addition, China will also eliminate the limits on international air traffic, which for two years has been restricted to less than 5% of what it was before the pandemic.
The World Health Organization was recently “very concerned” about the evolution of the covid in China and called for “more information”.
THE EC OFFERS VACCINES
The European Commission has offered China vaccines against covid-19 to stop the wave of coronavirus infections in the Asian giant, although the Chinese authorities have not yet responded to this offer.
“In light of the situation in China, Commissioner Kyriakides contacted her Chinese counterparts to offer EU solidarity and support, this includes expertise in public health and also donations of variant-adapted EU vaccines,” she explained in a press conference a community spokesperson.
ITALY
Italy does not consider that there is “nothing offensive” in forcing passengers from China to undergo a covid test, the Foreign Minister and Vice President of the Government of that country, Antonio Tajani, said on Tuesday, after complaints from the Chinese authorities.
“They seem very normal measures to me. Many Chinese do it, but also many Italians who come from China. Taking a test is something for the protection of health, there is nothing offensive,” Tajani told the media.
FRANCE
France justified the covid tests that are going to be imposed on travelers from China and those that are already being carried out when their flights land despite threats from Beijing, in order to monitor the progress of the epidemic.
“Our objective is to be able to monitor the evolution of the epidemic,” stressed the French Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, in an interview with the radio station France Info, in which she recalled that it is about sequencing the virus for those people who test positive upon arrival in France.
AUSTRIA
Austria announced that it will analyze the wastewater from planes coming from the Asian country to monitor the eventual entry of new variants of the coronavirus.
In a statement, the Austrian Ministry of Health specified that the samples will be taken directly from aircraft wastewater tanks, “so that new variants of the virus can be detected with particular precision.”
SOUTH KOREA
South Korea will require negative covid tests from travelers coming from Hong Kong and Macao, in addition to those coming from mainland China, the health authorities reported today.
As of January 7, all those who fly from the two former colonies must undergo a PCR test at least 48 hours before flying or an antigen test in the 24 hours prior to the trip and they will not be able to board unless the result is negative, the Korea Communicable Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) explained in a statement today.
This article is originally published on sport.es
