The constraints in Rawasi aim to “avoid the emergence of a new variable”

From January 1, travelers from China arriving in France must present a negative Covid test on board and can be randomly tested upon arrival.

The Minister of Health justifies the new measures. François Brown confirmed this Sunday, during a trip to Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport, that the restrictions, which took effect on Sunday January 1 and target travelers from China upon their arrival in France, are intended to prevent the emergence of a new variant. , as Covid cases explode in China.

“We must avoid the possible emergence of a new variant from China,” he told reporters at the site.

From Sunday, passengers over the age of 11 departing from China are subject to a Covid screening test within 48 hours and PCR tests are carried out at random at Roissy. Passengers who are at least 6 years old must wear a mask on board.

Passengers “test a third”.

Transport Minister Clement Bonn noted that “fifteen people” had already been randomly tested on Sunday morning when the device was opened.

“We will test as much as possible,” stressed the Minister of Health, who aims to test “a third” of passengers from China.

“A total of 3,000 passengers a week arrive from China, some of whom are only in transit,” said Transport Minister Clement Bonne.

Fear of the new alternative

Positive samples must also undergo systematic sequencing. The goal: to discover possible new variables, while China ended its zero Covid policy and the country is being criticized by Western countries for not communicating enough about the development of the epidemic on its soil.

“The fact that 1.4 billion people were suddenly exposed to SARS-CoV-2 clearly creates favorable conditions for the emergence of variants,” epidemiologist Antoine Flaholt estimated at the end of December on BFMTV.

However, the importance of such measures is being questioned by some experts, when China does not have herd immunity and the latter is one of the main drivers of viral development. Several variants discovered in recent weeks in China, including the BF.7 variant, have also been reported in several European countries including France.

There is no collective response

The European Union has not yet provided a collective response to the explosion of Covid cases in China. It is important that we continue our joint European coordination efforts in the coming days so that the system is as complete and coordinated as possible, which is why the Minister of Health called this Sunday.

At the moment, in addition to France, Spain and Italy have imposed control measures on travelers from China. Outside the EU, Britain and Israel have also made similar decisions and the United States, Canada, Japan and India should follow suit.