WHO official: China outbreak won't have 'significant impact' on Europe

Excessive epidemic prevention is not scientific!

WHO official: China outbreak won't have 'significant impact' on Europe

　　[Global Times special correspondent in Japan and Germany Yue Linwei Aoki Global Times reporter Bai Yunyi] Hans Kluge, director of the European Regional Office of the World Health Organization, made it clear at a press conference on the 10th that the number of people infected with the new coronavirus in China The increase will not have a "significant impact" on Europe, because according to data provided by the Chinese government, the two variant strains circulating in China have already appeared in European countries.

On the 11th, Switzerland announced that it will not take mandatory new crown virus testing measures for Chinese tourists.

And the few countries that insist on adopting discriminatory entry restrictions against China are worrying about the impact of China's reciprocal measures.

　　According to media reports, the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention said last week that no measures are currently recommended for travelers from China. The EU has a relatively high level of vaccination and the possibility of imported infections is low compared with daily infections in the EU. The current medical The system is capable of coping.

"We agree with the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control that the current increase in the number of people infected with the new coronavirus in China is not expected to have a significant impact on the new crown epidemic in the European region." Kluge said at a news conference. We call for such measures to be rooted in science, proportionate and non-discriminatory." It is worth noting that Kluge also mentioned: "We acknowledge that China has been sharing virus sequencing information, We also need detailed and regular information, especially on local epidemiology and variant strains, to better determine how the virus has evolved."

　　"Coronavirus testing requirements for Chinese tourists 'not well thought out'".

The German "Heise Online" magazine reported on the 10th that Klaus Stoll, a German epidemiologist and virus expert who had worked in the WHO for 15 years, imposed new coronavirus testing requirements on Chinese tourists in some countries. Be critical.

He explained that Chinese new crown-positive tourists only account for a small proportion of those infected in Western Europe, and the idea that these people will bring about huge changes is extreme, "it is not based on facts and data."

　　The European Aviation Safety Agency and the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued a joint statement on the 10th, stating that some recommendations have been added to the "Aviation Health and Safety Protocol" jointly issued by the two agencies, including requiring passengers on direct and non-direct flights to provide information on the new crown virus before departure. Test results; it is recommended that passengers and crew members wear medical masks or breathing masks; some arriving passengers can be randomly tested.

However, according to Reuters, the Swiss government stated on the 11th that passengers entering Switzerland from China currently do not need to undergo mandatory new coronavirus testing.

The Swiss government said in a statement that the Omicron variant circulating in China "poses only a small risk to the Swiss population and the Swiss health system".

　　China's epidemic prevention and control has entered a new stage of optimization and adjustment. A few countries have insisted on adopting discriminatory entry restrictions against China in disregard of scientific facts and their own epidemic situation.

South Korea not only restricts the issuance of short-term visas to Chinese citizens, but also temporarily suspends the increase of flights to China. Some Chinese netizens even revealed that after entering South Korea, they were asked to hang a yellow sign around their necks at the airport.

Since January 8, Japan has required, except for Hong Kong and Macau, passengers from mainland China to enter Japan on direct flights to provide negative nucleic acid certificates, and to accept higher-precision antigen quantitative testing or PCR testing when entering Japan.

Japan's TBS TV station recently broadcast the entry screen of Osaka Kansai Airport, showing that near the exit of the corridor bridge, airport staff distributed additional tags with red strings to passengers who disembarked and disembarked from the Qingdao flight in China.

The TBS reporter said this was to distinguish passengers from China from other passengers.

Some Japanese netizens pointed out that this is completely discriminatory.

"Just imagine how Japanese would feel if they were treated like this at a Chinese airport? After all, there are still more than 200,000 new infections in Japan every day."

　　As a reciprocal measure, on the 10th, China announced that it would suspend the issuance of short-term visas to China for Korean citizens and the issuance of ordinary visas for Japanese citizens to China.

The National Immigration Administration of China announced on the 11th that from now on, it will suspend the issuance of port visas for Korean and Japanese citizens, and suspend the 72/144-hour transit visa exemption policy for Korean and Japanese citizens coming to China.

Regarding China's reciprocal measures, Yonhap News Agency reported on the 11th that South Korean duty-free shops that were affected by the epidemic were worried. They originally expected that after China adjusted its epidemic prevention measures, tourists would increase.

The same is true for small and medium-sized enterprises. They originally expected that exports to China would quickly adjust and resume after China's liberalization of control, but they did not expect to encounter another setback.

The Korean Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises originally planned to bring 30 small and medium-sized enterprises to participate in the South China International Dental Exhibition held in Guangzhou at the end of February, but due to the suspension of visas, most of the small and medium-sized enterprises found it difficult to make the trip.

The Japanese tourism industry has long been burdened by its own anti-epidemic measures.

Since the Japanese government significantly relaxed the entry epidemic prevention policy in October last year, it has still required entry personnel to provide proof of 3 doses of vaccination or a negative nucleic acid within 72 hours.

In this regard, Takahashi Hiroyuki, president of the Japan Travel Industry Association, expressed on the 10th that he hopes the government will cancel this measure.

　　According to what the Global Times reporter learned from relevant departments on the 11th, the South Korean side was unable to undertake some flights due to additional measures such as entry inspections on Chinese passengers, and canceled a total of about 10 flights between China and South Korea.

Since China implemented the "Class B and B Control" on the new coronavirus infection on January 8, the source of tourists from South Korea has grown rapidly, and a large number of passengers from the United States and Canada transited to China through South Korea, resulting in a decline in flight supply and a sharp increase in demand. Air ticket prices for flights between China and South Korea have risen recently.

(Global Times)