The European Commission recommends stricter health surveillance following concerns raised by China.
Lhe European Commission has asked Member States to review and possibly strengthen testing procedures for the coronavirus and the detection of new variants. The wave of massive infections currently affecting China has raised international concerns about the possible spread of a new variant. In Belgium, a meeting of the Risk Management Group will be held next week.
China, which recently abandoned its “zero covid” policy, is the victim of the largest upsurge in coronavirus cases in the world. The Chinese being allowed to travel freely from January 8, several countries, including Japan, the United States, Spain and Italy, have already indicated that they want to impose restrictions on travelers from this country.
According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the problem does not currently arise at European level, as the population is generally well protected thanks to vaccination or previous contamination. The Center also specifies that the variants circulating in China are already present in Europe.
Reopening of Chinese borders: the European Union tries to avoid cacophony
The European Commission is now urging Member States to review and, if necessary, strengthen their covid screening and “genome sequencing” procedures which can detect new variants. “If a new variant emerges, whether in China or in the European Union, we must detect it quickly so that we can react quickly,” said the European Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, in a letter sent. Thursday and which the Bloomberg news agency was able to consult.
The Commission is “closely following the development of the situation in China due to the alarming increase in the number of coronavirus contaminations”, adds Stella Kyriakides, specifying that the potential impact of travel from China to the EU once that Beijing has relaxed travel conditions will also be watched carefully.
Upcoming RMG meeting
In Belgium, health experts from the Risk Management Group (RMG) will look into the situation next week, Federal Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit) announced on Radio 1 on Friday. This meeting should take place on Monday afternoon. Experts will examine how Belgium can prepare for possible risks.
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