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Tourists entering Spain on flights from Palma de Mallorca
Photo: JAIME REINA / AFP
The federal government sees no need for the time being, but other countries have introduced entry rules for travelers from China.
Now, after Italy, a second European country is following suit: The Spanish government has announced controls at airports for travelers from the People’s Republic because of the severe corona wave in China.
In the future, people entering the country will have to present a negative corona test or proof of full vaccination protection, as Health Minister Carolina Darias told journalists.
In view of the high number of infections in China, several other countries had already ordered mandatory corona tests for people entering China this week. In addition to Italy and now Spain, these have so far been the USA, Japan, India and Malaysia.
EU is relaxed
The World Health Organization (WHO) showed understanding for the protective measures.
"In the absence of full information from China, it is understandable that countries are taking action that they believe will protect their people," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitter on Thursday.
The EU health authority ECDC, on the other hand, stated that such measures are not necessary for the EU as a whole.
The authority pointed out that the EU countries had “a relatively high level of immunization and vaccination”.
In addition, “the variants circulating in China are already widespread in the EU”.
The line of the EU authority coincides with the position of health politicians in the federal government (read more about this here).
A spokesman for the Ministry of Health said on Wednesday that Germany was initially waiving entry restrictions.
There is currently no indication that a more dangerous mutation has developed in China that would lead to this.
"Trust is good, control is better"
However, there are also opposite opinions in the traffic light: The SPD health politician Christos Pantazis considers a test obligation because of possible new variants to be sensible.
He still hopes for a common European approach, said the doctor on Friday on RBB Inforadio.
Otherwise he wants to work for Germany to go it alone, said Pantazis.
However, he emphasized: »«Issuing entry bans goes far beyond the goal.«
The tests are also about recognizing new variants: In Italy, for example, they are not only tested, but also sequenced.
Pantazis explained: China's population is "still very naive immunologically" because they are hardly vaccinated and therefore do not have a high level of basic immunity.
He is convinced that the Chinese will not pass on the data in the genetic analyzes of new virus strains.
"Trust is good, control is better."
mrc/AFP