Autonomies ask for an urgent meeting on covid in China

The Chinese population is facing the worst wave of coronavirus infections since the start of the pandemic. This health crisis, which has collapsed intensive care units and the morgues of their hospitals, has revived old ghosts and set off alarm bells around the world for fears that the most virulent menacing variants will rise and escape the attack of the vaccine efficacy. Thus, countries such as Spain, Italy, India, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Israel, Morocco, Japan or the United States – despite the fact that the European Commission has not proposed any specific protocol for travelers from China – have taken the decision to institute extraordinary surveillance measures for travelers from the Asian country.

The Spanish government, following a procedure contrary to the usual one – consisting in the study of the measures by the Alert Report of the Inter-territorial Council and the Public Health Commission and then announcing itself through the ministry – communicated its decision to tighten checks at Spanish airports and to require Chinese passengers to undergo a negative test against Covid-19 or a complete vaccination programme. This was announced by the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, before the meeting of the Alert Panel and the Public Health Commission. This protocol entered into force last Saturday, December 31st.

Given the possibility that Chinese mobility will skyrocket from January 8, when the border closures that the country has imposed due to its “Covid zero” policy will expire and when the millions of Chinese New Year celebration trips after three years of restrictions, some autonomous communities have asked Health to go further in prevention measures. The first region to request it was the Community of Madrid. He asked the ministry to require travelers from China to have a negative Covid-19 test at source to enter Spain, regardless of their vaccination certificate, due to the low efficacy of Chinese vaccines and because they are not authorized by WHO nor by the European Medicines Agency. They also consider it necessary to establish criteria for quarantines.

In addition, the councilor of the Community of Madrid, Enrique Ruiz Escudero, has called for the urgent convening of an Inter-Territorial Council of the National Health System. The same request was presented yesterday by the Junta de Andalucía. The Minister of Health and Consumption, Catalina García, has asked for the convening of a meeting between the autonomous communities to evaluate and make joint decisions on the actions to be taken in the face of the explosion of Covid-19 infections that the People’s Republic is experiencing China. In the letter, she expressed her concern about the deteriorating epidemiological situation regarding the COVID-19 in China in recent weeks. According to the source, although the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control believes that the increase in cases observed in China should not have an impact on the countries around Spain, García expressed the difficulty of carrying out a correct risk assessment of faced with the lack of transparency on the part of the Chinese authorities”.