Several countries impose controls on Chinese travelers when detecting cases of covid

Italian health authorities yesterday began testing all passengers on flights from China for covid, after the virus was detected in almost half of the passengers on two flights bound for Milan amid growing international concern after Beijing's announcement that it would make travel conditions more flexible from 2023.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
28 December 2022 Wednesday 21:30
9 Reads
Several countries impose controls on Chinese travelers when detecting cases of covid

Italian health authorities yesterday began testing all passengers on flights from China for covid, after the virus was detected in almost half of the passengers on two flights bound for Milan amid growing international concern after Beijing's announcement that it would make travel conditions more flexible from 2023.

"The measure is essential to ensure surveillance and detection of possible variants of the virus in order to protect the Italian population," said the Italian Health Minister, Orazio Schiallaci.

For the moment, the Italian health authorities have not detected worrisome variants, but in recent days the number of positive tests by passengers from China has alarmed prevention services. Since last Friday, the steering committee of the Italian Higher Institute of Health has been monitoring the evolution of the covid contagion in China and some passengers arriving from this country were undergoing tests.

At the Malpensa airport (Milan), one of the busiest in Italy, almost one passenger in two among those arriving from China tested positive, sources from the Lombardy region (north of the country) reported yesterday.

For its part, the Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino airport, located on the outskirts of Rome and the most important in Italy, established a protocol to isolate those who have the disease. "Surveillance and prevention, through sequencing, are essential to detect any new variant that may be cause for concern and that is not currently circulating in Italy," it explained in a statement.

Italy, a destination for millions of tourists from around the world, almost three years ago became the first Western country to experience a sudden worsening in the number of coronavirus cases, weeks before the disease spread across the world and dozens of countries imposed quarantines.

The announcement this month of the abrupt end to China's zero-COVID policy at a time when the country is experiencing an explosion of cases has raised concerns from several countries, which are considering entry restrictions for Chinese travelers following the announcement on Monday that the mandatory quarantines on arrival would end on January 8.

This decision marks the imminent demise of the last vestige of the zero covid policy, which has isolated the country for nearly three years and sparked unprecedented demonstrations in late November. The announcement of the opening of the country has caused a fever for international flights.

But the news has been received in a completely different way abroad. The United States will impose mandatory COVID tests on travelers from China starting January 5, US health officials have said. All passengers must present a negative test result no more than two days before leaving China.

For their part, Japan and India will also impose mandatory testing and Malaysia will implement additional monitoring and surveillance measures. Taiwan announced yesterday that it would conduct screening on travelers from the mainland.

Beijing's turnaround has ended nearly three years of massive testing, lockdowns and prolonged quarantines that have severely affected China's economy. However, it comes at a time when the authorities recognize that the scope of the epidemic wave in the country is "impossible" to measure and have reduced the number of criteria to attribute a death to covid.

Faced with a shortage of basic medicines, Beijing plans to distribute Paxlovid, a US-made oral treatment, to hospitals and clinics. However, it is still very difficult for the common citizen to obtain. Not so for the elites, who would be buying the drug at astronomical prices in private centers, according to the Financial Times, after quickly running out on the internet.