Due to the corona wave in China, more and more countries are announcing mandatory testing for travelers from China. In Europe, Italy and Spain are now followed by France and Great Britain. There are still no plans for mandatory testing for Chinese people in Austria.
The European Union (EU) discussed this on Thursday. EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides then called on states to review and restart their national surveillance measures if necessary. As reported, Italy was the first European country to introduce mandatory testing for travelers from China. On Friday, the governments of Spain, France and Britain also announced testing requirements.
Samples in France
In concrete terms, in Spain it must be either a negative corona test or a full vaccination. In France, in addition to the obligation to submit a negative corona test upon entry, random checks must be carried out on arrivals from China.
Germany: View variants
In Germany and Austria, a mandatory test is currently considered “not yet necessary” (German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, note). The German Minister of Health, Karl Lauterbach, considers a coordinated Europe-wide solution important. “We need very accurate ‘variant monitoring’, because we cannot reliably call up this variant monitoring from China. The targeted assessment of, for example, individual flight sequences could also play a role here, which is being prepared,” he said.
Outside Europe, restrictions on travelers to China have been announced or introduced in India, the US, Japan and South Korea, among others. The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus showed understanding for the actions of the countries because “complete information from China” would be missing. After nearly three years of strict precautions, the Chinese leadership abruptly announced an end to its zero-corona policy on December 7. According to officially unconfirmed estimates, 248 million people, or 18 percent of the population, became infected in the first three weeks of December alone.
Source: Krone
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