EU officials ‘firmly’ insist on testing for travel
Key takeaways:
- Some EU nations have already raised testing – despite the earlier suggestion that it was “unjustified”.
- China is presently seeing a wave of Covid cases, with reports of hospitals and crematoriums being swamped.
European Union officials are “extremely” urging that all member states insist on negative Covid tests from Chinese comings before they travel.
Coronavirus in China increases:
Travel in and out of China gets more available from Sunday as part of the “zero-Covid” policy scrapping.
Some EU nations have already raised testing – despite the earlier suggestion that it was “unjustified”.
China is presently seeing a wave of Covid cases, with reports of hospitals and crematoriums being swamped.
Wednesday’s advice on negative tests came from the EU’s Integrated Political Crisis Response group (IPCR), a body made up of administrators from the EU’s 27 governments.
It also urged that:
- All passengers on aeroplanes to and from China sport face masks.
- Random testing of planes from China be introduced, and
- Wastewater monitoring is conducted at terminals.
European restrictions on Chinese arrivals:
The suggestion comes a day after the European Commission, the executive panel of the European Union, said an “overwhelming” number of member states preferred limitations on Chinese arrivals.
France, Spain, and Italy have already submitted testing – but others, such as Germany, have been observing the case. England, outside the EU, needs pre-flight testing on China arrivals from Thursday.
Despite the recommendation, it’s yet to be determined whether an EU-wide approach will be introduced – but particular states can set their policy.
The urge from the IPCR is a change from the body’s illness prevention agency, which the previous week recommended against the introduction of compulsory Covid tests.
The ECDC stated testing was “unjustified”, given the high rates of medicines in Europe, and that variants spreading in China were already in the European Union.
