The Minister of Health justifies the new measures. François Braun assured this Sunday, during a trip to the Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport, that the restrictions, which will come into force this Sunday, January 1 and which target travelers from China upon arrival in France, have as The objective is to avoid the appearance of a new variant. , as Covid cases explode in China.
“We must avoid the possible emergence of a new variant from China,” he told reporters at the scene.
From this Sunday, travelers over the age of 11 leaving China are subject to a Covid screening test within 48 hours and PCR tests are carried out randomly in Roissy. Travelers at least 6 years old must also wear a mask on the plane.
“Test a third” of the passengers
The Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, indicated that “fifteen people” were already randomly tested this Sunday morning when the device was inaugurated.
“We are going to test as much as possible,” said the Minister of Health, who intends to test “one third” of the passengers from China.
“A total of 3,000 passengers a week arrive from China, some of whom are only in transit,” Transport Minister Clement Beaune said.
The fear of a new variant
Positive samples should also be subject to routine sequencing. The objective: to detect possible new variants, while China has ended its Covid zero policy and the country is being criticized by Western countries for not communicating enough about the evolution of the pandemic in its territory.
“The fact that 1.4 billion people are suddenly exposed to SARS-CoV-2 obviously creates favorable conditions for the appearance of variants,” epidemiologist Antoine Flahault estimated at the end of December on BFMTV.
However, some experts question the relevance of such measures, when China does not have herd immunity and it is the latter that is one of the main triggers of viral evolution. Several variants detected in recent weeks in China, including the BF.7 variant, have also already been registered in several European countries, including France.
No collective response
The European Union has yet to give a collective response to the explosion of Covid cases in China. It is “important to continue with our joint European coordination in the coming days so that the system is as complete and coordinated as possible”, the Minister of Health called this Sunday.
For now, in addition to France, Spain and Italy have imposed control measures for travelers from China. Outside the European Union, Britain and Israel have also made similar decisions and should be followed by the United States, Canada, Japan and India.
Source: BFM TV
