Passangers arriving from China are tested for COVID-19 on arrival at Milan Malpensa Airport, Milan, Italy. AP.
London: More and more countries are getting worried as China, earlier this week, announced easing curbs on its borders and opening both domestic and international travel after almost three years of hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. Italy, which has announced mandatory Covid-19 tests from passengers arriving from China, has now urged the rest of the European Union to follow its lead, but they said it would be “unjustified”.
Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her country “expects and hopes” that the EU will impose mandatory Covid-19 tests for all passengers flying in from China like Rome did.
Reacting to Italy’s request to EU to ensure Chinese arrivals are tested, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) instead said the surge in Beijing was “not expected to impact” the European Union.
In a statement, the ECDC said: “High levels of Covid in China are anticipated given the country’s low immunity and recent relaxation of its rules. But higher immunity in the EU means a Covid surge in China is not expected to impact the bloc.”
It further said that the Covid-19 variants circulating in China are already circulating in the European Union. “Potential imported infections from China are ‘rather low’ compared to the number of infections already occurring in the EU and citizens in the bloc have relatively high vaccination and immunisation,” it added.
On Thursday, the EU health officials met in Brussels to co-ordinate any response. “We remain vigilant and will be ready to use the emergency brake if necessary,” the ECDC said.
Not the first time
Notably, this was not the first time EU countries were split on Covid-19 policies. At the biggening of the pandemic, there were debates on what to do as well as stiff competition to buy safety equipment, before member states came together and successfully placed and shared joint vaccine orders.
Italy only EU country to test Chinese travellers
Italy, on Wednesday, ordered mandatory COVID-19 antigenic swabs, and related virus sequencing, for all passengers coming from China and transiting through Italy
“The measure is essential to ensure the surveillance and identification of any variants of the virus in order to protect the Italian population,” Italian minister Orazio Schillaci said.
After the decision, Italy this week saw more than half of the passengers on a flight from China tested positive for Covid-19. Notably, the flights into Milan were among the first to screen passengers subjected to new mandatory testing imposed on Chinese travellers.
“On the first flight, out of 92 passengers 35 (38 per cent) are positive. On the second, out of 120 passengers 62 (52 per cent) are positive,” Guido Bertolaso, Lombardy regional councilor for welfare, told media.
Which countries have announced restrictions for Chinese travellers
India, US, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan and South Korea are among the countries that have announced restrictions for Chinese travellers.
People from China travelling to India have been asked to produce a negative Covid test before arriving, with those who test positive put in quarantine.
Japan too has said that it will require a negative COVID-19 test upon arrival for travellers from China and those testing positive will have to undergo a week in quarantine. Meanwhile, Tokyo plans to limit airlines increasing flights to China.
Malaysia has put additional tracking and surveillance measures in place, while Philippines is also considering imposing mandatory Covid-19 test for travellers from China.
Taiwan said people arriving from China, by air or sea, will have to take Covid tests on arrival throughout January.
South Korea too said that travellers from China will have to provide negative Covid-19 test results on arrival.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said testing people travelling from China, Hong Kong and Macau was needed “to help slow the spread of the virus as we work to identify… any potential new variants that may emerge”.
With inputs from agencies
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