International
restrictions on Chinese travelers being increased
Written by the Opinion on Sunday, January 2, 2023
After the United States, Japan, Canada, and a number of European nations announced mandatory negative Covid-19 testing for travelers from China, Australia made the announcement on Sunday.
The Canadian government had earlier announced a similar measure in "response to the Covid-19 outbreak in the People's Republic of China and due to the paucity of epidemiological data and sequence information on these cases."
At the beginning of January, all travelers coming from China will be denied entry into Morocco purely and simply. The EU's member states must discuss a common response by Wednesday, according to the announcement made by Sweden, which will assume the EU's interim presidency on Sunday. In Europe, among others, the France, Italy, and Spain have already implemented tighter controls on travelers from China.
According to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (OMS), the precautionary measures taken by several countries are "comprehensible" given the lack of information provided by Beijing.
Both a hospital ward and a crematorium are destroyed.
Three years after the first cases of the coronavirus were discovered in Wuhan (center), China abruptly ended its "zero Covid" policy on December 7. Since the imposition of limitations, the Chinese hospitals are being overrun by an aging patient population that is deferring treatment, crematoriums are being abandoned, and many pharmacies are running low on anti-fièvre medications.
On Sunday, the country reported 5.100 additional positive cases and another death related to Covid. Some very small numbers that completely conflict with the reality on the ground.
Despite the epidemic backlash, the authorities will end the mandatory quarantines for entry into China on January 8 and let Chinese citizens to travel abroad after three years of frustration.
"A new phase has begun in the epidemic's prevention and management. Even though we are still in a difficult situation, there is hope in sight ", said Chinese President Xi Jinping in a televised speech for the New Year on Saturday evenin
Even while internet users have noted that the festivities appear to be more relaxed than in years past, significant crowds have gathered in Shanghai and Wuhan for the New Year's celebrations.
30 Omicron sub-satellites in Shanghai
L'OMS had stated on Friday that it had spoken with Chinese officials on the epidemic blaze.
The United Nations agency for health announced in a statement that "the OMS has again requested the regular sharing of specific data on the epidemiological situation in real time, including more data on the genetic sequence and the impact of the disease, including hospitalizations, admissions to intensive care units, and fatalities."
She has also asked for information on immunization status and vaccination rates, particularly for vulnerable groups and people over 60. In a recent study conducted by Chinese researchers and published in the journal "Frontiers of Medicine," it was found that 30 sub-souches of the Omicron variant have been circulating in Shanghai recently, including the predominate sub-variants BF.7 and BA.5.2 that have been identified in Pékin and Canton (sud).
In her New Year's remarks on Sunday, Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen addressed China, with whom military tensions are at their highest at the moment.
Mme Tsai stated in a speech with calming tones that the Tawanais are "prêts à fournir l'aide nécessaire sur la basis de préoccupations humanitaires" to Beijing "at the time there is a need".