“Chinese friends, France welcomes you with open arms! » : it was with a warm tweet that the French Embassy in China welcomed, on Wednesday December 28, Beijing’s confirmation of the lifting of the last vestige of its “zero Covid” policy. From January 8, quarantine will no longer be imposed on travelers entering the country; in other words, the Chinese will be able to start traveling massively again. A welcome message that contrasts with the alerts from Japan, the United States or Italy, on the defensive in the face of the explosion of Covid-19 cases in China. If the Chinese authorities, totally overwhelmed, have stopped communicating official data, we are talking about the astronomical figure of 37 million contaminations per day.
After Japan, the United States and Italy announced on Wednesday that they would impose Covid-19 screening tests on all travelers from China. For the past few days, Italy has had the impression of reliving a bad film. On December 26, the 120 passengers on a Beijing-Milan flight took anti-Covid tests made available by the Lombardy region: more than half tested positive. Still traumatized by the violence of the pandemic, Lombardy, epicenter of contagions in Europe after the appearance in February 2020 of the first cases of Covid-19 on the Old Continent, very quickly took the lead. Milan-Malpensa airport immediately imposed the tests for all travelers from China.
An obligation extended to the entire territory on Wednesday for anyone traveling from Chinese territory or in transit on Italian soil. A “essential measure” to “protect the Italian population”, commented the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci. Positive people will have to complete a quarantine period, the terms of which remain to be defined.
Assessment of the situation at European level
The Italian authorities have indicated that the strengthening of health measures must also be done at European level. Several tourists from China have indeed set foot on Italian soil after stopping in Paris, Frankfurt or Helsinki. As almost three years ago, Rome considers Europe too wait-and-see. “Italy cannot be the only one to carry out anti-Covid checks at airports on passengers arriving from China”, explained Matteo Salvini, vice-president of the council in charge of infrastructure and transport, who spoke on Wednesday afternoon with the European commissioner for transport Adina Valean. Orazio Schillaci has meanwhile written to the European Commissioner for Health, Stella Kiriakidou, to ask her for coordinated action at the level of the countries of the Schengen area.
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