The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called the preventive measures taken by some countries “understandable”
Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe) today condemned the “scientifically unjustified” and “uncoordinated” checks imposed by several European countries on passengers originating from China.
After the sudden abandonment of the so-called “zero Covid policy” in China, which led to an explosion of infections in the country, France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, in agreement with the US and even South Korea, decided this week to impose Covid tests on travelers coming from China.
“These unilateral actions are contrary to all the experience and achievements of the last three years (…) (these controls) are not scientifically justified or based on a ‘real risk’,” ACI Europe said in a statement.
The powerful federation, which represents more than 500 airports in 55 European countries, strongly denounced in 2020, at the start of the pandemic, the “chaotic” juxtaposition of different health restrictions depending on the country and then their lifting in a disorganized manner.
“We are once again plunging into a patchwork of unwarranted and uncoordinated travel restrictions (…). These travel restrictions are not working and EU coordination arrangements are failing once again,” said ACI Europe Director General Olivier Jankovic.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on Thursday deemed it “unwarranted” to systematically screen travelers, given the level of immunity in Europe and the presence on the mainland of the same variants as in China.
As for identifying possible new variants of the virus that may emerge in China, increased surveillance with genomic sequencing “can be done by means such as screening sewage from airports, without the need to test travelers,” ACI Europe emphasizes.
The precautionary measures taken by many states are “understandable” due to the lack of information provided by Beijing, however, said the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
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