Despite the corona situation: the EU does not restrict entry from China, but makes a recommendation

Created: 05/01/2023 08:35

By: Sven Hauberg

In view of the increasing corona numbers in China, the EU is recommending compulsory testing for travelers from now on.

The effect of the measure is controversial among doctors and epidemiologists.

Munich/Brussels/Beijing – Despite the rapidly increasing corona numbers in China, the EU countries have not been able to agree on a common approach.

In Brussels, the EU states only agreed to recommend mandatory testing.

As the Swedish Council Presidency announced after the meeting, the EU member states are being urged to carry out checks.

This should include a negative corona test for travelers from China that is no more than 48 hours old before departure.

The EU countries also recommended wearing masks.

At best, medical or FFP2 masks should be used on board the aircraft.

The decision is not binding for the EU states, but serves as a guide.

The measures are to be reviewed in mid-January.

Entry from China: The effect of a mandatory test is controversial

What is controversial is what measures such as mandatory testing bring.

It is "nonsensical" to assume that a new corona wave could arise from people entering Europe from China, said epidemiologist Klaus Stöhr on Wednesday on Deutschlandfunk.

Given the still high number of infections in Europe, a few thousand additional infections from China would make no difference.

"That's maybe one or 0.5 percent more cases that occur in the country." Stöhr also doesn't think much of tests at the border.

In this way it is possible to identify new variants.

However, it is not yet known which of these are dominant.

It also takes months to develop an adapted vaccine.

"Then the variant has already slipped through."

In the past few days, several European countries have issued regulations on how to deal with travelers from China.

Italy, France, Spain and Great Britain require corona tests from people arriving by plane from the People's Republic.

Austria and Belgium announced that they would have the waste water from aircraft from China examined.

In this way, potentially dangerous new virus variants are to be discovered.

Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach recently pushed for a common European approach.

"Variant monitoring" at the airports is important, but he currently sees no reason for mandatory testing for those entering the country.

Johannes Nießen, chairman of the Federal Association of Physicians in the Public Health Service, sees things differently.

China rejects entry restrictions: "disproportionate and simply unacceptable"

China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday dismissed the entry restrictions that several countries had already imposed as "unscientific".

"Some of these measures are disproportionate and simply unacceptable," said a foreign ministry spokeswoman in Beijing.

"We firmly oppose using Covid measures for political purposes and will take appropriate measures in response to different situations based on the principle of reciprocity." China itself requires people traveling to the People's Republic to have a negative PCR -Test.

A traveler from Beijing at Madrid airport: The EU has agreed on common rules for dealing with arrivals from China.

© Pierre-Philippe Marcou/afp

After three years of a zero-Covid policy, China abolished almost all corona measures in a surprising turnaround at the beginning of December.

Since then, many millions of people across the country have contracted the virus;

there may also have been countless deaths.

There is no reliable data because the Chinese authorities recently stopped publishing the daily number of cases;

In addition, the death statistics only include people infected with corona who died of pneumonia or respiratory failure.

Various estimates and calculations assume that between 70 and 90 percent of the 1.4 billion Chinese will contract the virus during the current corona wave.

It could also result in hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Some Chinese experts assume that several major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have already reached the peak of the corona wave.

In the coming weeks, the wave is likely to spread mainly to rural areas, especially in the days surrounding the Chinese New Year.

It is celebrated on January 22 this year.

Then millions of city dwellers traditionally go to their relatives in the country.

This could pose major challenges for local healthcare systems, as many rural hospitals are under-resourced.

In addition, people over 80 in particular are not sufficiently vaccinated against the corona virus.

The government of head of state and party leader Xi Jinping had rejected an offer by the EU to provide a vaccine free of charge.

You have the situation under control