The United Kingdom, France and South Korea in turn announced on Friday their desire to restore health controls at the borders in the face of the next reopening of China. As for Switzerland, it sees no reason for the moment to introduce restrictive measures.
After the abandonment of the “zero Covid” policy in early December under the pressure of growing popular protest in China, restrictions on international travel will be lifted on January 8, but the epidemic outbreak in the country worries at the ‘international.
>> Read once more: China will lift Covid-related quarantines on entry into its territory on January 8
While theEuropean Union (EU) failed to adopt a common strategy on passengers arriving from China on Thursday – finding itself divided as in the early hours of the pandemic three years ago – theSpain announced on Friday that it would condition their entry into its territory on the presentation of a negative test for SARS-CoV-2 or proof of completion of a complete vaccination schedule.
>> Read more: Screening Chinese travelers for Covid ‘unwarranted’, says EU
The France and the UK announced on Friday evening that travelers boarding in China for their country will have to present a negative Covid-19 screening test at the start of their flight.
L’Italy This week has already imposed mandatory screening for travelers arriving from China. Madrid has therefore now joined Rome in the camp of supporters of a generalization of these controls on a European scale, while theGermany and the Portugal considered these new restrictions superfluous and that theAustria underlined the economic benefits to be expected from a return of Chinese tourists to Europe.
Switzerland mirrors the EU
The Suisse will align with the EU on entry arrangements. According to the Federal Office of Public Health (OFSP), questioned on Friday, there are no plans for the moment “to introduce health measures at the border”. Current infections in China are not expected to pose an increased danger to the Swiss healthcare system.
Beyond the EU, the Malaysia announced Friday a systematic control of the temperature of all travelers arriving on its territory, whatever their origin, accompanied by screening tests in the event of fever or other suggestive symptoms.
“Discriminatory” measures
The South Korea also announced on Friday that it would impose, from next week, mandatory screening tests before boarding as well as on arrival in its territory, for travelers arriving from China.
Similar measures have already been announced to UNITED STATESin Indeau Japan and to Taiwan. The official Chinese tabloid Global Times denounced in an article published Thursday evening “unfounded and discriminatory” restrictions.
“The real intention is to sabotage the three-year Covid-19 control efforts and attack the country’s system,” reads the English-language publication, which follows the editorial line of the Party’s official media. Chinese Communist People’s Daily and the New China News Agency.
>> See the 7:30 p.m. report on the situation of hospitals in China:
Strategy defended by the WHO
For the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, these measures are on the other hand “understandable” in view of the absence of detailed information provided by the Chinese authorities.
“In the absence of detailed information from China, it is understandable that countries around the world are taking the measures they deem necessary to protect their people,” he wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
reuters/vajo
