The EU is debating a bloc-wide response to the abrupt end of China’s zero-Covid containment policy, as capitals around the world try to cope with rising infections in the country.
Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s new prime minister, called on Thursday for the EU to follow Rome’s move to test all air arrivals from China for the coronavirus as member state officials met for urgent talks on an approach common
Meloni said Italy’s mandatory tests, announced on Wednesday, would be “ineffective if not followed at European level”. He added: “We would like Europe to move in this direction.”
The European Commission called a meeting of the EU’s health and safety committee, made up of officials from member states, to “discuss the Covid-19 situation in China and possible measures to be taken in a coordinated manner”.
“Coordinating national responses to serious cross-border threats to health is crucial,” the committee said after concluding the meeting. “We must act together and we will continue our discussions.”
A sharp rise in Covid cases in China and a rush of international travel bookings from the country have already prompted the US to demand negative test results for new arrivals from China, in addition to moves from Italy and other states . Japan, India and Taiwan have also imposed test requirements for Chinese arrivals, anticipating a surge of visitors.
The sudden reimposition of those travel restrictions, lifted in Western countries for most of last year, is the latest fallout from Beijing’s decision to scrap its draconian zero-Covid policies, which has sparked a wave of of coronaviruses that infect tens of millions of people in China each. day.
Shares fell in Asia and Europe on Thursday as investors worried about the impact of the increase on the global economy.
Italy, which said 52 percent of passengers on a post-Christmas flight from China to Milan had tested positive for coronavirus, has written to the commission to push for a bloc-wide policy on Chinese arrivals. The EU’s Schengen area of free movement means there are no restrictions on people moving around most of the continent.
Orazio Schillaci, the country’s health minister, said Italy would use genetic sequencing of positive test results to determine whether new variants were emerging in China. It is feared that any new strain could pose a greater health threat than the variants already in circulation for which the vaccines used in the West offer good protection.
Any EU decision would only be advisory to member state governments, although the health and safety committee was instrumental in sharing information and agreeing joint approaches during the height of the pandemic in Europe.
After Thursday’s meeting, the French health ministry said it was looking to act in a coordinated manner with its European counterparts. He added that the meeting underlined the need for a coherent EU strategy, as well as more data and more work on measures to protect people and keep travelers informed.
But he added that “at this stage, the number of Chinese travelers to Europe is limited and will remain so for several weeks while China’s reopening measures are put in place and come into effect.”
The governments of the Nordic countries, Germany and the United Kingdom also said they had no current plans to follow Italy’s lead or were waiting for more information.
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Norway and Finland are not considering imposing any conditions on arrivals from China because there are already a significant number of Covid infections in the Scandinavian countries and few travelers from the Asian nation at this time of year, according to health authorities .
“It doesn’t make sense,” Jari Jalava, an infectious disease expert at Finland’s health authority, told state broadcaster Yle.
The German health ministry said it was “monitoring the situation closely and coordinating closely with our international partners”. Spokesman Sebastian Gülde said: “So far the health ministry has no indication that any type of variant of concern has emerged in the context of the outbreak in China, compared to the variants currently circulating in Germany.”
The British government also said it was reviewing whether to carry out Covid checks on arrivals from China, but insisted there are currently “no plans” to re-impose border controls.
A government official said the UK had already experienced the Omicron wave that hit China, adding: “Our vaccines are working and our vaccination rate is excellent.”
However, the UK Health Safety Agency is monitoring the prevalence and spread of harmful variants and Downing Street said all available international data would remain under review.
Additional reporting by Giuliana Ricozzi in Rome, Richard Milne in Oslo and Guy Chazan in Berlin