In the face of a massive wave of corona infections in China, the USA and Italy are increasing their precautionary measures. Anyone entering the United States from China must present a negative Covid test from January 5. The new rules already apply in Italy: Air travelers from China have to take a mandatory corona test at the airport after landing, and those who are infected have to go into isolation. Health Minister Orazio Schillaci issued a corresponding regulation on Wednesday. “The measure is essential to ensure that possible virus variants are monitored and detected to protect the Italian population,” said the minister.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called on other European countries to follow the Italian path. “We expect the European Union to take action in this direction,” she said on Thursday. Apparently, almost half of the passengers arriving from China at the airports in Milan and Rome tested positive for the corona virus.
Very few Chinese are currently traveling to Germany anyway
The federal government says they are monitoring the situation, but see no need to tighten the rules yet. Due to very restrictive visa regulations, few Chinese are currently entering Germany anyway. It is also assumed in government circles that the Germans are well protected by the widespread vaccination protection and the existing spread of the disease and that a massive increase in the number of infections in Germany is currently ruled out.
However, there is concern that new variants of the corona virus could arise in China, which would cause new waves of infection elsewhere. That is why the Chancellery and the Ministries of the Interior, External Affairs and Health are currently coordinating on this issue. The German legal situation is problematic: It only allows entry restrictions such as compulsory testing or vaccination if travelers come from “virus variant areas”. However, China is currently not classified as such an area, as no new variants have become known so far. However, the data situation in China is considered to be so poor that people in Europe would probably not hear about new variants even if there were any.
The EU Commission called an emergency meeting of the Committee on Health Security, which includes experts from the 27 member states, for Thursday. They wanted to exchange information about the situation in China and discuss common answers, it said. Results were not initially known. Manfred Weber, the group leader of the European People’s Party in the European Parliament, called on Thursday for a joint test obligation in the EU for people entering the country from China. “In an open Europe, it makes no sense at all to only carry out tests in one country, the EU health ministers have to coordinate quickly,” he wrote on Twitter.