Italy announced this Wednesday (28) that it will require testing for Covid-19 in all passengers from China, a country facing an explosive rise in the number of contaminated. The decision was taken after authorities in Milan reported that nearly half of travelers on two flights departing from the Asian giant were contaminated.
According to the Italian Ministry of Health, specialists are analyzing the tests carried out in Milan to identify possible new variants of the virus. If a new strain is found, authorities could impose even tighter restrictions on travelers arriving from China. The information is from the Bloomberg agency.
Amid the relaxation of the strict policy to contain the pandemic known as Covid zero, China is dealing with a significant increase in the number of cases. Pharmacies suffer from a shortage of medicines, and doctors say hospitals are overwhelmed, with up to six times more patients than normal.
At the same time, China’s National Health Commission announced on Sunday (25) that it will no longer release daily data on cases and deaths from Covid, as it had done since the beginning of 2020. According to the commission, tracking new cases had become impossible since the flexibility of control measures.
This Wednesday, a new meeting was scheduled with the presence of members of the Italian government and health authorities, including the minister of the portfolio, Orazio Schillaci, who was supposed to present new information about the tests carried out in Milan. Most infected passengers did not show symptoms, but local media have reported great concern from experts about the possibility of spreading a new variant.
Italy was the first European country to be hit hard by Covid, in early 2020. More than 183,000 people died in the country as a result of the disease until this Wednesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The case in Milan has repercussions in other European countries. In Germany, Sebastian Guelde, spokesman for the Minister of Health, said that the authorities are following the matter closely. “We have no indication that a more dangerous mutation has developed in China that would result in travel restrictions.”
In yet another blunt measure to loosen the restrictions imposed to contain Covid, China announced this Tuesday (27) the resumption of issuing passports to citizens who want to travel abroad for tourism. The decision could send millions of Chinese tourists to other Asian and European nations during the Lunar New Year, which begins on the 22nd – the holiday, generally, is the busiest in the country; this year, for example, China recorded 1.2 billion trips during the festival.
The change in the course of the Covid-zero policy in China, which included practices such as large-scale confinements and the systematic hospitalization of infected people, comes in the wake of a series of popular mobilizations carried out in the country’s main cities and universities in late November.
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