Given the explosive number of Covid-19 infections in China, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) considered the introduction of compulsory screening for Covid-19 at the European Union level for travelers from China to be “unjustified”.
EU countries “have relatively high levels of immunization and vaccination” and “variants circulating in China are already circulating in the EU,” ECDC said in a statement on Thursday.
Several countries have already taken preventive measures
For the European Agency, “the potential infections” that can be imported are “rather small” compared to the number of infections already circulating every day. Health systems “are now poised” to cope with the disease, the ECDC added.
The European Commission convened an informal meeting on Thursday to discuss “possible measures for coordinated action” by EU countries in view of the explosion of Covid 19 cases in China. The commission will “continue to facilitate discussions between member states,” a spokesman said after the meeting without further details.
Several countries, including Italy or Japan, as well as the United States, have already decided to impose mandatory tests on all travelers coming from China.
The sudden end this month of China’s “zero Covid” policy, which is expected to encourage Chinese people to resume overseas travel, came as the country faced the world’s biggest wave of infections, compounded by the emergence of new ones Variants.