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Covid tests on travelers from China: “unacceptable” for Beijing

2023-01-03T08:35:18.026Z


The tests put in place since January 1 in several European countries have made China jump, which evokes possible “countermeasures”.


Faced with the increase in the number of Covid cases in China, France has decided in turn to demand tests for passengers on flights from the Middle Kingdom.

A measure deemed “unacceptable” by Beijing.

“We are doing this in compliance with the rules of the World Health Organization, and we will continue to do so”, reacted in the wake of Elisabeth Borne, questioned on this subject on Franceinfo.

“The objective is to be able to measure the evolution of this virus”, recalls the Prime Minister.

Beijing immediately condemned the imposition of these Covid tests, warning that it could take “countermeasures” in retaliation.

“Some countries have put in place entry restrictions aimed only at Chinese travellers.

It has no scientific basis and some practices are unacceptable,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said, adding that China may “take countermeasures, based on the principle of reciprocity.”

VIDEO.

Border control: covid tests carried out on travelers from China

Many countries are concerned about possible new variants and impose tests on travelers coming from China.

However, no new strain of Covid-19 has been detected.

According to Xu Wenbo, a CDC official, a new national database from hospital sample collection is in preparation.

Majority Omicron variants

The Omicron BA.5.2 and BF.7 variant sublineages remain dominant in Beijing, he said, in response to fears that the more dangerous Delta variant is still circulating.

Omicron is in Shanghai.

In many Western countries, the XBB and BQ subvariants, which are more transmissible but not yet dominant in China, have taken over.

Last month, China submitted 384 samples of Omicron to the global Gisaid database, according to its website.

But the total number of samples from Beijing since the start of the epidemic (1,308) remains much lower than those from other countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Cambodia or Senegal.

The recent samples brought by Beijing "all strongly resemble the variants known and circulating in the world between July and December", according to Gisaid.

Source: leparis

All life articles on 2023-01-03

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