At Tongren Hospital in Shanghai, China, January 3, 2023 (AFP / Hector RETAMAL)
Beijing on Tuesday condemned a dozen countries’ imposition of Covid tests on travelers from China, as a very large majority of European Union members backed such a measure.
“Some countries have introduced entry restrictions aimed only at travelers from China. This is without scientific basis and some practices are unacceptable,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning. China could “take countermeasures according to the principle of reciprocity”.
In recommendations, a committee of health experts from the 27 EU members (Health Security Committee) advocated the imposition of tests on travelers from China “with an overwhelming majority” on Tuesday in Brussels, according to a doorword by the EU Commission.
They also looked at mask-wearing, aircraft sewage control and increased testing with genomic sequencing at arrival airports to identify possible new variants.
“These measures should be targeted to the most appropriate flights and airports and implemented in a coordinated manner (across the EU) to ensure their effectiveness,” the spokesman said. A new European meeting on this topic is planned for Wednesday.
In Washington, for his part, the spokesman for American diplomacy assured that the American requirement to present a negative Covid-19 test for travelers from China at the country’s borders is “based only on scientific knowledge” and is based only “on public health concerns”. “.
Austria on Tuesday announced its decision to analyze sewage from planes arriving from China.
China’s statements come nearly a month after China’s surprise lifting of its health restrictions on December 7, a decision that has since prompted an influx of patients into hospitals and Covid victims into crematoriums.
Beijing no longer quarantines people arriving from abroad, but continues to require travelers to have a negative PCR test and has not issued tourist visas for almost three years.
More than a dozen countries have imposed Covid tests on passengers arriving from China in recent days amid concerns about a lack of transparency on infection numbers and the emergence of new variants.
“I think we are playing our role by protecting the French and asking for testing,” French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on the radio on Tuesday. “We will continue to do so.”
– 100 ambulances per day –
China is currently facing its worst outbreak ever. In Shanghai in particular, two-thirds of residents could have contracted Covid in recent weeks, a senior official at one of the city’s main hospitals estimated on Tuesday.
At Tongren Hospital in Shanghai, China, January 3, 2023 (AFP / Hector RETAMAL)
The economic capital of China, the city of 25 million people, was placed under strict exit restrictions for two months from April. Many of them were taken to quarantine centers.
Now the Omicron variant is spreading there very quickly.
In other major Chinese cities such as Beijing, Tianjin (north), Chongqing (southwest) and Canton (south), health authorities assume that the peak has already been passed.
Chen, also a member of Shanghai’s Covid Expert Council, said his hospital receives 1,600 emergency room visits every day – twice as long as before the restrictions were lifted – 80% of whom have contracted Covid.
– Chinese new year –
At Tongren Hospital in Shanghai on Tuesday, AFP journalists saw emergency care being given to patients outside the building, overwhelmed by the onslaught of patients.
The hallways were filled with dozens of elderly patients lying on beds and having IVs. Some wore oxygen masks.
At Tongren Hospital in Shanghai, China, January 3, 2023 (AFP / Hector RETAMAL)
This wave of Covid in major cities is expected to soon hit rural areas of China where health services are less provided, as millions return to their home provinces to celebrate the Lunar New Year from Jan. 21. .
In an interview with state broadcaster CCTV on Monday, Jiao Yahui, an official with the National Health Commission (NHC), acknowledged that the expected outbreak poses a “tremendous challenge” in the country.
“What worries us most is that no one has returned to their province for the Lunar New Year in the last three years, but this year it’s finally possible,” she said.