China’s Covid surge does not increase risks to EU, says disease control agency
A surge in Covid-19 cases in China is not expected to increase the risk to EU citizens, the bloc’s disease control agency said on Tuesday, raising questions over some countries’ decision to put restrictions on Chinese visitors.
France, Spain and Italy have said they will introduce controls on visitors from China such as demanding evidence of a recent negative Covid-19 test or proof of vaccination. China is opening up from a lengthy lockdown, sparking a rise in infections in the world’s second-biggest economy.
But the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which monitors threats in the EU and European Economic Area, said the variants circulating in China are already prevalent in the EU.
Wednesday’s meeting of a wider group, including health agencies and staff from the EU council secretariat, known as the Integrated Political Crisis Response mechanism, would make any recommendations for ambassadors to endorse later in the week.
The ECDC repeated its assessment that the probability of Europeans being infected with Covid in the coming weeks was “very high”. Its weekly data report found that in the week ending December 18, 2022 the number of people aged over 65 across the EU/EEA with Covid increased by 7 per cent compared with the previous week.
In addition, 11 of the 21 countries with data on hospital admissions and intensive care bed occupancy reported an increasing trend in at least one of those indicators. The death rate decreased by 11 per cent compared with the previous week; 2,009 fatalities linked to Covid-19 were reported across the EU and EEA.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Henry Foy
