There is an agreement in the European Union in the face of the explosion of coronavirus cases in China, although it remains on recommendations instead of obligations to members who receive flights from the Asian giant.
As translated by the Twenty-seven, recommend requiring a negative test at origin to these travelers, tests carried out a maximum of 48 hours before taking off. will also be held wastewater analysis of those flights.
It also remains in recommendation to Chinese travelers wear a mask during flights, specifically the FFP2, N92 or KN95 models.
Previously, the European Union urged to inoculate the booster dose of the vaccines against COVID-19 before the rebound of cases in Chinaan outbreak of infections motivated by the abrupt end of its “COVID Zero” policy and the low immunity of its population.
The Swedish presidency of the Council called this meeting of the Integrated Political Crisis Response (IPCR) mechanism after the lifting of the restrictions on leaving China, together with the increasing spread of COVID-19 in the country , has triggered the need for joint European action. Countries like Spain or Italy have begun to require a vaccination certificate or a negative test to access.
“The presidency is looking for a common EU approach to the possible introduction of entry requirements. It is important that we quickly take the necessary steps,” said Swedish Minister for Social Affairs and Public Health Jakob Forssmed.
“They are correct measures”
The former director of Health Assistance in crisis situations of the World Health Organization (WHO) Daniel Lopez-Acuna He has praised that measures are taken to try to restrict the circulation of the virus, although they should not be the only ones, asking to reinforce the use of masks.
“The crisis in China, with the very high number of infections and the high number of hospital beds and care pressure, favors a wide dissemination of the virus through asymptomatic positives that may come on flights from China”, he assured during an interview in Al Rojo Vivo.
“The balances to manage this pandemic are very precarious. We have to keep, on the one hand, high protection with the vaccine and, on the other, prevent the free circulation of the virus and closely monitor the emergence of new variants,” he defends.
A subvariant of omicron
The new subvariant of omicron, the XBB.1.5known as ‘kraken‘ and which has been located first in NY, is expanding throughout the United States and already represents around 40% of COVID-19 cases in the country, compared to 20% last week. According to the latest data from the government Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this subvariant leads the number of national COVID-19 cases and has gained ground especially in the Northwest. In regions like New York, it already reaches 75% of confirmed cases.
The CDC warns that this dominant subvariant of COVID-19 “it may be more transmissible than other variants”but they still do not know if it has “more severe” effects.
Hospitals are seeing an increase in admissions over the last month in the country, although the northwestern area with high numbers for this subvariant has not seen a disproportionate increase in hospitalizations compared to other regions. The XBB.1.5 is related to the omicron XBB variant, which has been found in at least 35 countries with clinical severity in Singapore and India, data from the World Health Organization collect.
Source: Lasexta
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
