The EU snubs Italy and pampers China on anti-Covid measures
Italy asks the EU to introduce the obligation to swab passengers from China at EU level, but the ECDC considers the measure "unjustified". Because? Facts, numbers and predictions
Here we go again, or rather not yet or not quite like this. When Omicron was discovered from South Africa in November 2021, thanks to sequencing , the world wondered if it was appropriate to close the borders and introduce travel bans – it had already happened also with Alfa, Beta and the other variants.
Now a new variant, which deserves more attention (or concern) than Omicron, has not yet been found but there are fears that it could surface following the abandonment of China's zero Covid strategy and the consequent surge in cases in the country because, as the experts explain , the more the virus circulates, the more the chances that an immuno-evasive variant can develop are high.
The world has not talked about a travel ban, but Italy, Japan, South Korea , Malaysia, Taiwan and India have imposed the buffer on travelers arriving from China. The United States also asks those coming from Macao and Hong Kong. Spain decided today that it will ask for a negative test or full vaccination certificate.
However, this measure has not met with the favor of either the European Union, to which Italy has asked to respond with a joint decision for all 27 members, or the World Health Organization (WHO).
Here's why and what they said.
WHAT ITALY ASKED OF THE EU
Both the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, during the press conference at the end of the year , and the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, during a briefing in the Senate, asked the European Union for a shared decision on the use of tampons at airports for passengers arriving from China.
The reason for the request is due to the fact that if the swab is requested by individual countries it is possible to trace only passengers who arrived by direct flight from China, while all the others who have made one or more stopovers in other countries are lost. The decision to impose the swab was made so that, in the event of a new variant, it is possible to identify it immediately and move accordingly.
AT THE MOMENT NO NEW VARIANTS
Meanwhile, Minister Schillaci reported that "the preliminary data from various sources, including the first laboratory results of the sequencing of the samples collected at Malpensa, would in any case show the circulation of variants and sub-lineages already present in our territory".
However, according to the minister "a connection within the EU is necessary to take a common decision that can serve to limit the influx of positive people from the Asian country".
THE EU'S RESPONSE
The EU's response through the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) was not slow in arriving, declaring that Italian screening of travelers arriving from China is "unjustified".
The ECDC, according to reports from the BBC , also stated that "the increase [of infections in China] should not have an impact on the EU".
The security of the European institution seems to derive from the fact that "the variants circulating in China are already circulating in the EU", "the potential infections imported from China are 'rather low' compared to the number of infections already present in the EU" and "EU citizens have a relatively high level of vaccination and immunization".
Finally, the ECDC added that it will remain alert and ready "to use the emergency brake if necessary".
THE TIDY REQUEST OF WHO
The WHO, which only a few days ago said it was "very concerned" about the surge in cases in China, limited itself to asking Beijing again for greater transparency by sharing the real data of what is happening.
Its director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, posted a series of tweets asking for more collaboration from China and thus justified the decision of the countries that have decided to impose the buffer: "In the absence of complete information from China, it is understandable that countries around the world act in ways they believe will protect their populations.
WHAT YOU THINK IS GOING ON IN CHINA
Chinese health authorities say there are an average of about 4,000 new infections per day and few deaths, which officially would be just 5,246 since the start of the pandemic in 2020.
For analysts, however, the numbers would be very different. According to data from Airfinity, cited by Reuters , "it is very probable that at the moment in China about 9,000 people die of Covid-19 a day, double the number compared to last week's estimate", mainly due to the strong transmissibility of the Gryphon subvariant .
The total deaths since December 1, the company speculates, could be 100,000, with a total of 18.6 million infections.
FORECAST FOR THE NEXT MONTHS
Airfinity also predicts that infections in China will first peak on January 13 with 3.7 million cases per day.
Deaths, on the other hand, are expected to peak at around 25,000 a day on January 23, with a total of 584,000 since December to reach 1.7 million by the end of April.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/lue-snobba-litalia-e-coccola-la-cina-sulle-misure-anti-covid/ on Fri, 30 Dec 2022 09:51:04 +0000.