An “overwhelming majority” of European Union countries voted on Tuesday in favor of systematic Covid-19 screening for travelers coming from China before leaving for Europe, a European Commission spokesman announced.
The move is part of recommendations resulting from a meeting of a committee bringing together health experts from the 27, and will be discussed on Wednesday during a meeting aimed at developing a coordinated EU response to the explosion of contaminations in China.
Health experts on Tuesday discussed other measures proposed by the Commission, including requiring passengers from China to wear face masks, testing aircraft wastewater and increasing testing, including genomic sequencing, at arrival airports to identify possible new variants.
“These measures must be targeted at the most appropriate flights and airports and implemented in a coordinated manner (throughout the EU) to ensure their effectiveness,” the spokesperson stressed.
Wednesday’s meeting of the IPCR (European system for a reaction at the political level in crisis situations) could lead to recommendations that must then be approved by the Member States.
China and “countermeasures”
China on Tuesday condemned mandatory Covid tests already imposed by a dozen countries around the world, including three from the EU, on travelers from its territory and warned it could take “countermeasures” in retaliation.
Beijing ended its draconian “covid zero” policy in early December, causing an explosion in the number of infections among the Chinese population, and will lift its quarantine obligations for travelers arriving from abroad on Sunday.
Concerned by the lack of transparency about the Chinese figures and fearing the appearance of new variants, the Europeans reacted in a scattered way, three of the EU member states opting unilaterally for the restrictions.
Italy and Spain have imposed tests on arrival on passengers leaving China, while France has decided to require, starting Thursday, a negative test less than 48 hours after departure. Random tests can also be carried out upon arrival in France.
A “coordinated approach”
During the meeting of the Health Security Committee, “all Member States agreed on a coordinated approach,” insisted the spokesman for the European executive.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), one of the EU health agencies, considered this Thursday the systematic screening of travelers “unjustified”, given the level of herd immunity in Europe and the presence on this continent of the same variants as in Porcelain.
The ECDC said on Tuesday “it has increased its surveillance activities”, while again considering that “the variants circulating in China (…) do not in themselves constitute a threat to the immune response” of Europeans.
Source: BFM TV
