EU rejects Italy’s ‘unjustified’ push to test Chinese arrivals for COVID

The European Union’s top health agency said this week it would not require negative COVID testing from travels arriving from China and called Italy’s push to do so “unjustified.”

China has seen a surge in cases over the past month as Beijing walked back years-long strict COVID policies, including mass quarantining, travel restrictions and testing mandates.

As China has lifted these regulations, officials around the globe have become concerned about effects on international infection rates.

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But the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on Thursday said that it considered “screenings and travel measures on travelers from China unjustified.”

The agency said that the BF7 omicron variant that was hitting China hard was already circulating across Europe and therefore did not pose a significant threat. 

“Given higher population immunity in the EU/EEA (European Economic Area), as well as the prior emergence and subsequent replacement of variants currently circulating in China by other Omicron sub-lineages in the EU/EEA, a surge in cases in China is not expected to impact the COVID-19 epidemiological situation in the EU/EEA,” the ECDC reportedly said.

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Washington earlier this week said that people traveling from China will need to provide a negative test taken at least two days before arriving to the U.S.

Italy has taken similar precautions after Milan’s Malpensa airport – which had already begun testing arrivals on the 26th – saw more than half of its passengers who were arriving from China testing positive for the infectious virus.

The first flight to be tested in Milan showed that 35 of the 62 passengers traveling from China were positive for the virus, while the second flight had another 62 of its 120 passengers who were also carrying it, reported Reuters. 

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Japan and Taiwan will also initiate testing requirements on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, respectively, but European nations including the U.K. and France have said they do not have plans to instate COVID-testing mandates.