Enlarge image
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) in Berlin
Photo: Michele Tantussi / REUTERS
More and more countries are demanding corona tests from travelers from China, Germany has so far refrained from doing so.
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach considers the test obligations to be "not yet necessary" - the current corona variants are known.
But Lauterbach now wants to work elsewhere.
Close-meshed "variant monitoring" is being prepared at European airports, said the SPD politician.
One cannot reliably retrieve the variants from China, said Lauterbach.
"And that's why we are very dependent on doing it ourselves." For example, the targeted inspection of individual aircraft could play a role here.
There is no reason to panic, even if other corona variants cannot be ruled out: "And in order to be able to recognize them at an early stage, we will closely monitor the airports in Europe."
Lauterbach said he thought it was very important that Europe responded in a coordinated manner.
He wanted to coordinate the matter with the French Minister of Health in the afternoon.
A European solution is necessary if you want to achieve something together.
"I know that in Spain and Italy this mandatory testing was initiated."
After almost three years of strict precautions, China's leadership abruptly announced an end to its controversial zero-corona policy on December 7th.
According to unconfirmed estimates, 248 million people or 18 percent of the population were infected with Corona in the first three weeks of December alone.
Experts warn that the corona wave could produce new variants that would then find their way to other countries.
So far, however, there are no corresponding findings.
Several Asian countries had imposed compulsory testing in view of the corona situation in China, as had the USA.
Italy and Spain also require tests upon entry.
Overall, however, the EU is reacting cautiously.
Bavaria, however, is urging haste: "The very high number of new infections with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus reported from China, in conjunction with the lifting of isolation measures and travel restrictions, harbors the risk of new virus variants emerging and spreading uncontrollably," said Bavaria's Minister of Health Klaus Holetschek (CSU) with.
In a letter, he asked Lauterbach to put this topic on the agenda at the meeting of the federal-state group for hospital reform on January 5.
The EU health experts are also expected to meet for another crisis meeting next week.
In a letter to the 27 EU health ministers, EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides called on them to be "very vigilant".
She referred to the lifting of travel restrictions by China on January 8 and the lack of reliable data from the People's Republic.
If a new variant emerges, the EU must recognize it early on in order to be able to react quickly, the commissioner wrote in a letter seen by Reuters news agency. Lauterbach said he was in contact with the commissioner on Thursday and was therefore relative well in the picture.
mrc/dpa/AFP/Reuters
