Germany, Sweden and Belgium are imposing new Covid testing requirements on passengers traveling from China after the bloc recommended the step to cope with a surge in cases.
(Bloomberg) — Germany, Sweden and Belgium are imposing new Covid testing requirements on passengers traveling from China after the bloc recommended the step to cope with a surge in cases.
German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach confirmed Thursday that Berlin will update its travel rules so that arrivals from China will need “at least one” test when entering the country.
“There will then be random checks on entry to detect virus variants,” Lauterbach said in an emailed statement. Wastewater tests will also be increased, he added.
Sweden’s testing rules kick in Jan. 7, while Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke also said testing requirements would apply to direct flights from China, the Belga news agency reported. France, Italy and Spain already imposed similar measures.
Several other countries — including Poland, which has a direct flight to China, and Bulgaria — said they had no plans to impose testing rules.
“We do not currently see a threat of increased transmission of Covid-19 via flights from China,” said Wojciech Andrusiewicz, a spokesman for Poland’s Health Ministry. “There is no mutation in China that would have been a threat us at the moment. We are constantly monitoring the situation and if a response is needed, it will follow.”
The EU on Wednesday “strongly encouraged” countries to adopt pre-departure Covid testing, recommended masking on flights and urged wastewater checks as a response to the rampant Covid outbreak in China. But it stopped short of mandating any new rules.
“The member states agree to issue advice to incoming and outgoing international travelers coming from or destined for China, as well as to aircraft and airport personnel, regarding personal hygiene and health measures,” according to a statement from Sweden, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU.
EU member states agreed to review the situation in mid-January.
China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman warned earlier this week that the country would hit back at nations that placed Covid restrictions on its travelers for “political goals.”
Covid Zero
China has been loosening its strict Covid Zero strategy after nearly three years — one that made entering the Asian nation very difficult because it required all arrivals to isolate for days in hotels or camps. Beijing still requires incoming travelers to test for Covid before boarding flights for China.
The new advice from the EU goes beyond the recommendations from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which said last week that screening rules and travel restrictions weren’t justified. “A surge in cases in China is not expected to impact the Covid-19 epidemiological situation” in Europe, it said.
Airlines are strongly opposed to new restrictive measures that might cut into passengers’ ability to travel freely.
The International Air Transport Association, the airline industry’s global lobby group, said travel restrictions have been shown to delay the peak of new waves of coronavirus by only a few days, rather than halting them, while at the same time strangling international connectivity, damaging economies and destroying jobs.
–With assistance from Iain Rogers, Konrad Krasuski, Jonas Ekblom, Richard Bravo, Slav Okov, Piotr Skolimowski and Jan Bratanic.
(Updates with Poland, Bulgaria declining to require tests starting in fifth paragraph)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.