Sweden, which in the pandemic has always gone straight on its less restrictive path than in the rest of Europe, assumes the presidency of the EU semester and changes course with the announcement of a meeting between partners
on Wednesday
to discuss a joint response on travelers originating from China.
The meeting of the Crisis Management Mechanism Council (IPCR) "is important to quickly implement the necessary measures", explained Stockholm.
The summons came after half of Europe moved in no particular order on airport checks due to the exceptional surge in infections in China following the end of the restrictions.
Three days ago France, Spain and Great Britain joined Rome's example, requesting a negative swab for anyone arriving from Chinese airports.
In short, Swedish-led Europe seems to intend to resume the ranks of the common policy on the pandemic, such as for the purchase of vaccines, because, in hindsight, the solitary strategies against Covid have proved to be losers.
Skeptical Berlin which did not consider it necessary to impose the obligation to test but claims to be thinking of a coordinated system to monitor the variants of the virus in European airports.
After all, President Xi Jinping himself in his televised speech for the new year said that China is "still in a difficult moment in the fight against the Coronavirus. The prevention and control of the epidemic have entered a new phase but the light of hope is before us".
Perhaps less optimistic are Chinese citizens after three years of very heavy restrictions imposed by Beijing which has pursued the 'zero Covid' policy by locking millions of people at home for interminable periods.
Not only that, the lack of confidence in medicines made in China is emerging all of a sudden, as evidenced by the rush to be inoculated with Western mRNA vaccines wherever possible.
This is the case of the small special administrative region of Macao taken over
onslaught by tourists from mainland China to secure a place on the list at the only hospital offering vaccinations with Pfizer and Moderna.
The appointment book is currently full and a hospital official told the Financial Times that his phone has been ringing "continuously" since the epidemic reared its head in China.
Officially, China has recorded just over 5,200 deaths from Covid, but there is a huge gap between the picture presented by the authorities and the reality that emerges from social media posts.
In addition to the numbers of hospital emergency departments.
Last week, police cordoned off a security cordon around a Beijing crematorium where long queues of hearses were seen.
A first wave of infections in urban areas is expected to peak in January, according to British health analyst firm Airfinity.
But a second, larger wave will affect rural areas in February, where health systems are weaker.
The Global Times newspaper wrote that the rural affairs leadership group had released a plan stressing the urgency of strengthening the epidemic prevention and control system, encouraging vaccination and social distancing.