Beijing, Jan 3 (EFE).- Italy does not consider that there is “nothing offensive” in forcing passengers from China to undergo a covid test, said today the Foreign Minister and Vice President of the Government of that country, Antonio Tajani, after complaints from the Chinese authorities.
«They seem very normal measures to me. Many Chinese do it, but also many Italians who come from China. Taking a test is something for health protection, there is nothing offensive,” Tajani told the media.
Beijing described this Tuesday as “disproportionate” and “unacceptable” the restrictions that several countries have imposed on travelers from China, such as requiring negative covid tests for passengers arriving from the Asian country, considering that they are measures that lack “base scientific.”
“We have the right to protect Italian citizens and avoid another pandemic,” insisted Tajani, whose government was the first European country to impose negative covid tests on passengers from China, a measure that was later also followed by Spain and France, among others.
China has registered an exponential increase in covid cases in recent weeks, and this has caused several countries to decide in recent days to require negative covid tests from travelers from the Asian country to travel to their territories.
Likewise, the rapid spread of the virus after withdrawing the “zero covid” policy has sown doubts about the reliability of the official data on infections and deaths in the country, which have registered only a handful of recent deaths from the disease despite the fact that localities and provinces have estimated that a significant proportion of their populations have been infected.
The World Health Organization was recently “very concerned” about the evolution of the covid in China and demanded “more information”, to which Beijing responded that it has shared its data “in an open, timely and transparent manner”.
The director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, indicated last week that, in the absence of more complete information on the spread of covid-19 in China, it can be understood that other countries take measures to protect their populations.
As of January 8, the covid will cease to be a category A disease in China, the level of maximum danger and for whose containment the most severe measures are required, to become a category B, which contemplates more lax control . EFE
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