EU-wide mandatory COVID-19 tests for Chinese arrivals urged

Last week, China announced that it was downgrading its COVID-19 response from ‘A Level’ control measures to the much less severe ‘B Level’ protocol.

According to Chinese health officials, ‘B Level’ response means that as of January 8, even symptomatic coronavirus patients will no longer have to isolate, and local authorities will no longer be able to lock down entire communities in the event of a localized outbreak.

Following that decision, Beijing said that it would greatly ease restrictions on international travel for Chinese citizens, announcing that it would end compulsory quarantine for passengers from January 8, effectively reopening the country’s borders.

Meanwhile, the number of new COVID-19 cases soared in China, with a reported 37 million people contracting the virus in a single day last week, and nearly a quarter of a billion people becoming infected this month. Officially, the NHC claims that these figures are nearly 10,000 times lower.

In light of China’s relaxation of its international travel restrictions, although it is still grappling with a huge surge in coronavirus infections, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has urged the European Union to impose a mandatory bloc-wide COVID-19 test on all visitors arriving from China by air.

Italy ordered mandatory antigen testing of all inbound travelers from China earlier this week.

“We took action immediately,” Meloni said at today’s press conference. 

US, Japan, India, Taiwan and Malaysia, have already instituted similar requirements for Chinese visitors, with Japan and India stating that those testing positive would have to enter quarantine.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that this requirement “will help to slow the spread of the virus as we work to identify and understand any potential new variants that may emerge.”

Yesterday, the health officials in Italy’s northern Lombardy region reported that almost half of the passengers on two recent flights from China to Milan’s Malpensa Airport tested positive for coronavirus.

“We expect and hope that the EU will want to act in this manner,” Italian Prime Minister said, adding that Italy’s policy would risk “not being fully effective” unless enforced by all European Union member states.

The European Union’s Health Security Committee met in Brussels today in an attempt to work out a common response to the anticipated surge of Chinese visitors next month.