Countries with key hubs such as the UK and France have decided this Friday (30) to require covid testing from travelers from China amid concerns deemed understandable by WHO in the face of the new wave of pandemics in China. Asian giant.
Spain, South Korea and Israel also announced measures similar to those taken by the US, Italy, Japan and Taiwan in the previous days, among other important business and leisure destinations.
Decisions have accelerated with Covid-19, which has spread rapidly in China since the beginning of the month, when the country abruptly lifted health restrictions.
Both the UK and France have stated that they will require travelers from China to have a negative Covid test before entry. More random tests will be conducted in France after the landing, and positive tests will be sequenced to detect possible new variants of the virus, a government official said at a press conference.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) considered these tests “unfair” in the European Union (EU) due to the high level of immunity among the bloc population and the presence of the same variants as in China. However, Western scientists have expressed their fear that the rapid spread of the virus in China may lead to the emergence of new variants.
Germany has requested more surveillance at European airports to be able to detect them. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said the controls were understandable, as they “will serve to protect the population” in the face of China’s silence on the evolution of the epidemic.
The Chinese government decided that the precautionary measures were the result of “exaggeration, defamation and political manipulation” organized by the Western press. “Since the outbreak of the epidemic, China has openly and transparently shared reliable information and data with the international community, including WHO,” a foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement today.
new epidemic
The new epidemic broke out on December 7 after China ended without notice the brutal “covid zero” policy in place since the first wave of the disease first identified in Wuhan three years ago.
These measures made it possible to protect the population from the new coronavirus, with widespread detection tests and monitoring of movements, as well as strict restrictions and quarantines when infections were discovered.
However, this policy hit the economy and consumed the public, who in November had staged three decades of unprecedented protests against the communist government. The official change of position was sudden and triggered infections.
Since the restrictions were lifted, Chinese hospitals have admitted large numbers of patients, many of whom are vulnerable elderly people who have not been vaccinated. Many pharmacies have run out of antipyretic drugs.
Despite the return of the epidemic, authorities will lift the mandatory quarantine upon arrival in China on January 8 and allow Chinese to travel abroad after three years of virtually closed borders.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 5,515 new cases of covid and one death on Thursday, these figures do not seem to reflect reality, as widespread testing is no longer mandatory and criteria for death caused by viruses have changed.
source: Noticias
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.