Faced with the coronavirus outbreak in China, Spain imposes controls without waiting for the European Union

Spain It reimposed covid-19 controls on passengers coming from China, from whom it will ask for a negative test or a vaccination certificate, the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, announced this Friday, without waiting for a consensual decision from the European Union (EU).

“We are going to implement the controls at our airports, requiring passengers coming from China to have a negative test against COVID or a full vaccination schedule,” Darias announced at a press conference.

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Darias said that “the main focus of concern is (…) the possibility that new uncontrolled variants may appear in China.”

Passengers arriving from China must also undergo a temperature control and a covid-19 test at the point of entry to Spain, the Ministry said in a statement.

According to this text, the measures will enter into force on Saturday and will remain in force until February 15. The first affected flight will arrive in Madrid at 6:00 p.m. local (5:00 p.m. GMT) on Saturday.

The Madrid announcement comes the day after the EU health agency, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), considered it “unjustified” to impose systematic covid tests on travelers from China.

Also, an informal meeting called by the European Commission – intended for “a coordinated approach” of the Member States – ended without any decision.

In its statement on Thursday, the ECDC claimed that EU countries “have relatively high levels of immunization and vaccination” and “variants circulating in China are already circulating” in these countries, so there was no need to require negative tests. at the community level.

In addition to Spain, Italy and France decided to take measures similar to those already applied by other countries such as the United States, South Korea, Israel, Japan, India and Taiwan.

“Given the health situation in that country, we know the importance of acting in coordination, but also the importance of acting quickly,” Darias justified himself for not waiting for a common European decision.

In any case, Spain will advocate for these measures to be implemented at the European level, added the minister, because that would be “the best guarantee of security for all”.

Despite the increase in cases, the Chinese authorities announced that on January 8 they would end mandatory quarantines upon arrival in China and would again allow Chinese people to travel abroad, after three years of isolation, a date whose proximity was invoked by Darias to justify the measures.

By deciding to introduce controls for passengers coming from China, the left-wing government of Pedro Sánchez could be reacting to pressure from the conservative opposition, which governs the Madrid region and whose president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, called for immediate measures to be taken in Madrid-Barajas airport.

In addition, the regional Health Minister, Enrique Ruiz Escudero, considered the announced measure “insufficient” and demanded that all those who come from China are required to present a prior negative test certificate, something that is now only required of those who are not vaccinated.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.