Canada does not intend to join the United States, Italy and a growing number of countries which will soon impose controls on passengers from China, after the lifting of its health restrictions. Similarly, a European health agency also considers that screening in the EU would be “unjustified”.
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), there is no indication that screening of travelers from China, or who have transited through this country, is not necessary at this time. “National surveillance still offers good sensitivity for detecting emerging variants,” said the Homework in writing Marc Johnson, PHAC spokesperson.
In addition, PHAC believes that genomic surveillance data from China demonstrates that the variants implicated in the current outbreak are already present in Canada. “BF.7, a subline of the Omicron BA.5 variant, is spreading in China. In Canada, the detection of BF.7 was made a few months ago, and it is estimated that this virus was responsible for 5 to 8% of positive cases as of December 17, 2022. Its estimated growth rate has slowed at less than 3% per day compared to other BA sublines,” Johnson added.
PHAC says it intends to continue to “monitor and assess the global epidemiological situation,” and reiterates its advisory to international travelers that people who have not received a full course of COVID-19 vaccines should avoid non-essential travel to China.
Case Explosion
Three years after the first-ever coronavirus cases emerged in Wuhan, China on December 7 ended its draconian so-called “zero COVID” policy without notice. Since 2020, it has enabled its population to be largely protected from COVID-19, thanks to generalized screening tests, strict monitoring of movements, but also mandatory confinements and quarantines as soon as cases are discovered.
These draconian measures, which kept the country largely isolated from the rest of the planet, dealt a severe blow to the world’s second largest economy and provoked unusual manifestations of discontent in November.
Since the lifting of restrictions, Chinese hospitals have been overwhelmed by a surge of patients, most of them elderly, and vulnerable because they have been little or not vaccinated.
Despite the epidemic rebound, the authorities will end the mandatory quarantines on arrival in China on January 8, and allow the Chinese to travel abroad again, after three years of frustration.
As a precaution, the United States and several countries, including Italy and Japan, have announced that they will require negative tests from passengers arriving from China.
According to the French daily The world, Italy, hit hard in March 2020 by the first cases of COVID in Europe, decided to screen passengers on a Beijing-Milan flight on December 26. A total of 50% of them tested positive for COVID-19. Hence the reintroduction of mandatory tests at airports throughout the country and quarantine for passengers affected by the disease. Since then, Italy has stepped up pressure for Europe to display a “coordinated position”.
For the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the introduction of mandatory screening for COVID-19 within the European Union for travelers arriving from China would however be “unjustified”.
EU countries “have relatively high levels of immunization and vaccination” and “variants circulating in China are already circulating in the EU”, the ECDC said in a statement, explaining that such a measure would not is not necessary at European Union level.
Without explicitly naming a country, Beijing called on Thursday to favor “scientific” measures that do not hinder human exchanges.
“Made to Dirty”
China has kept its borders largely closed to foreign nationals since 2020.
The country has not issued tourist visas for almost three years and imposes a mandatory quarantine on arrival. This isolation measure will be lifted on January 8, but a screening test of less than 48 hours will still be required.
In France, President Emmanuel Macron has “requested appropriate measures to protect” the French from the government.
In Brussels, an informal meeting convened by the European Commission, aimed at “a coordinated approach” of the Member States, has not given rise at this stage to a decision being taken one way or another.
At Beijing Capital International Airport, most Chinese interviewed Thursday by Agence France-Presse (AFP) were understanding of the measures taken vis-à-vis China.
“Each nation has its own concerns and its own way of protecting itself,” said Huang Hongxu, 21, noting that the possible spread of new variants was a cause for concern.
“These measures targeting passengers from China are temporary” and justified by “concern” around the reopening of China, notes Wu Jing, a Beijinger.
“Discriminatory”
A traveler for his part described these measures as “useless” to AFP.
“It’s a bit discriminatory,” said Hu, who declined to give his full name.
In China, “our COVID-19 policy for international arrivals is applied [de la même façon pour tous] “, notes the young man of 22 years. “Why do other countries have to give special treatment to arrivals from China? he wonders.
On the epidemic front in China, hospitals are battling an upsurge in cases that is hitting the elderly the hardest.
In Shanghai, AFP journalists saw masked patients being transported on stretchers to a major hospital in the city on Thursday. In the establishment, a patient complained of having waited four hours to obtain medication.
In Tianjin, near Beijing, AFP saw two hospitals overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. Doctors must work tirelessly even if they are contaminated, said one of them.
Despite the context, only 5,000 new cases and one death were announced on the same day by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Figures that no longer seem to reflect reality, widespread screenings are no longer mandatory.
With Agence France-Presse