From January 1, travelers from China arriving in France must present a negative Covid test on boarding and can be tested randomly on arrival.
The Minister of Health justifies the new measures. François Braun assured this Sunday, during a trip to Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport, that the restrictions, coming into force this Sunday January 1 and targeting travelers from China on arrival in France, are intended to prevent the emergence of a new variant, as Covid cases explode in China.
“We must avoid the possible emergence of a new variant from China,” he told reporters on site.
From this Sunday, travelers over the age of 11 departing from China are subject to a Covid screening test within 48 hours and PCR tests are carried out randomly at Roissy. Travelers at least 6 years old must also wear a mask on the plane.
“Test a third” of the passengers
Transport Minister Clément Beaune indicated that “fifteen people” have already been tested randomly this Sunday morning when the device was opened.
“We are going to test as much as possible,” assured the Minister of Health, who aims to test “a third” of passengers from China.
“A total of 3,000 passengers per week arrive from China, some of which are only in transit,” said Transport Minister Clément Beaune.
The fear of a new variant
Positive samples must also be subject to systematic sequencing. The objective: to detect possible new variants, while China has ended its zero Covid policy and the country is being criticized by Western countries for not communicating sufficiently on the evolution of the pandemic on its territory.
“The fact that 1.4 billion people are suddenly exposed to SARS-CoV-2 obviously creates conditions conducive to the emergence of variants”, estimated epidemiologist Antoine Flahault at the end of December on BFMTV.
The relevance of such measures is however questioned by some experts, when China does not have herd immunity and it is the latter which is one of the main triggers of viral evolution. Several variants detected in recent weeks in China, including the BF.7 variant, have also already been registered in several European countries including France.
No collective response
The European Union has still not currently provided a collective response to the explosion of Covid cases in China. It is “important to continue our joint European coordination efforts in the coming days so that the system is as complete and as coordinated as possible”, therefore called the Minister of Health this Sunday.
For now, in addition to France, Spain and Italy have imposed control measures for travelers from China. Outside the European Union, Britain and Israel have also made similar decisions and should be followed by the United States, Canada, Japan and India.
