The most pressing question at the first press conference of the European Commission at the start of the new year 2023 was its preparedness for the impact of the increase in COVID-19 cases in China.
The Commission’s health security committee of experts met already on Thursday last week and again on Tuesday. Its discussions will serve as input to the meeting on Wednesday (4 January) of the Integrated Political Crisis Response (IPCR), a mechanism which supports rapid and coordinated decision-making at EU political level in emergency situations and complex crises.
The Commission spokespersons declined to specify what measures might be considered at the meetings and did not want to preempt the scientific advice it might receive from its own expert agency, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). All options will be on the table.
The intention is to agree on a coordinated EU position, something which was missing at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The ECDC was criticized then for not reacting in time and not giving focused advice to the Commission. Since then, ECDC’s mandate has been reinforced.
What is ECDC’s opinion?
The ECDC wrote on Tuesday that the number of COVID-19 cases has reached a record high in mainland China, peaking on 2 December 2022. In the past three weeks, incidence has fallen, likely also due to a lower number of tests being carried out, resulting in fewer infections being detected.
ECDC also warns that there continues to be a lack of reliable data on COVID-19 cases, hospital admissions, deaths as well as Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capacity and occupancy in China.
“Given higher population immunity in the EU/EEA, 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,” ECDC concluded.
It did not respond at the time of press to a question from The Brussels Times about its advice to the Commission on how to deal with travelers from China: Should the Commission consider travel restrictions, mandatory vaccination certificates or testing at airports?
Letter to member states
Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, wrote last week to the EU health ministers that the Commission is closely observing developments in China regarding the “alarming increases in COVID-19 cases there, and the potential impact of travel from China to the EU Member States.”
“There is a wide consensus that EU countries should act in a coordinated way if we want measures to be effective,” she wrote. “Information and transparency on measures and a science-based approach have been our guiding principles throughout the pandemic and they continue to be vital in this phase if we are to have an effective protection of the EU against international health threats of this nature.”
She mentioned that some member states have proposed measures such as random testing of travelers. As an immediate step, she invited the member states to assess their current national practices regarding genomic surveillance of the SARS-CovV2 virus.
It would also be important to continue or initiate wastewater surveillance, that would include sewage water from key airports. “If a new variant of the SARS-CoV2 virus appears – be it in China or in the EU – we must detect it early in order to be prepared to react fast.”
The Commission has also reached out to the Chinese authorities with offers of support, including possibly vaccine donation, but not yet received any response from China.
"Some countries have put entry restrictions in place aimed solely at Chinese travelers. This has no scientific basis and some practices are unacceptable," stated a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, adding that China could "take countermeasures, based on the principle of reciprocity." In fact, China has also applied targeted measures on travelers when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.
What measures are likely?
After the meeting of the Health Security Committee (HSC) on Tuesday afternoon, Commissioner Kyriakides twitted that the Committee converged on action including pre-departure testing of travellers from China, stepped up wastewater monitoring and increased domestic surveillance.
A Commission spokesperson told The Brussels Times that all member states agreed on a coordinated approach to the changing COVID-19 situation in China and the implications of increased travel from China to Europe at the meeting.
The overwhelming majority of countries are in favour of pre-departure testing. These measures would need to be targeted at the most appropriate flights and airports and carried out in a coordinated way to ensure their effectiveness.
The Commission prepared a draft HSC opinion to steer the discussion. The draft opinion proposes the following measures: personal hygiene and health measures for travellers (including recommended mask wearing on flights from China); wastewater monitoring for aircrafts; genomic surveillance at airports and increased monitoring and sequencing; increased EU vigilance on testing and vaccination; a discussion on the need for pre-testing of passengers from China prior to departure.
As already reported, some EU member states have already taken action. Italy, Spain and France will be requiring tests from Chinese travelers. Other countries, including Belgium, are not (yet) requiring tests but will analyse the wastewater of direct flights from China.
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
