Health officials in Europe said that restrictions on travelers from China are unjustified. This marked a contrast from the growing number of countries that call stricter measures.
On Thursday, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) stated that Europeans have a high capacity to tackle Covid-19 due to their good health system that can handle the current load of infection.
This was responding to the recent decisions by other nations, including the United States, Italy, and Japan, to require visitors from China to pass Covid tests before entering their country after Beijing decided to drop its stringent zero-Covid policy, which has caused a fresh outbreak and widespread concern about the emergence of new strains in other countries.
Meanwhile, the European Commission has yet to follow Italy’s lead, and also downplayed the concerns by pointing out that the Covid Omicron variant is already existing in Europe and has “not significantly grown.”
Likewise, the British government said on Thursday that it has no plans to reintroduce Covid-19 testing for visitors, despite a growing number of countries mandating tests for travelers from China.
“There are no plans to reintroduce Covid-19 testing or additional requirements for arrivals into the UK,” the official said when asked about an early Thursday Telegraph report that the government will consider restrictions for arrivals from China.
