Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg “advise against” non-essential travel to China, as the country faces an unprecedented wave of COVID infections in three years.
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“We currently advise against non-essential travel to China. The reason is the spike in COVID infections and the overburdened healthcare system” in this country, the rapid response center of the German Foreign Ministry said on Twitter.
“Luxembourg aligns itself with the German travel advisory and currently advises against non-essential travel to China,” announced the Grand Duchy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release published late Saturday afternoon.
Even, writes in Belgium: “Since December, China has experienced its largest wave of infections due to the end of the zero-COVID policy. In view of the risk of saturation of hospitals and, therefore, the risk of not being able to be taken care of quickly in the event of an emergency, non-essential travel remains discouraged for the moment, ”indicates the website of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. .
China is facing an unprecedented wave of contamination for three years and the European Union this week strongly encouraged its Member States to impose screening carried out in China, before the flight, as well as to supplement this system with “tests random” upon arrival on European soil.
As a precaution, several countries including the United States, Japan, France and Germany have already decreed identical measures.
Despite the rebound in contamination, the Chinese authorities will end mandatory quarantines on arrival in China on Sunday and again allow Chinese people to travel abroad, after three years of frustration.
Beijing on Tuesday condemned the imposition of COVID tests by some countries, deeming them “unacceptable” and threatening “countermeasures”.
The World Health Organization (WHO) denounces for its part the controversial methods of Beijing to count the victims of the COVID. Although Chinese hospitals are overwhelmed and crematoriums full, authorities are reporting very few COVID-19-related deaths.