Covid-19, mandatory swabs for those arriving in Italy from China

Mandatory swabs for those arriving in Italy from China. The rapid increase of cases of Covid-19 in the country from which, in 2020, the coronavirus pandemic started, the abandonment of the zero-Covid policy by the Beijing authorities and all travel restrictions and the stop to the communication of cases push to reintroduce border controls. Health Minister Orazio Schillaci signed un’ ordinance that reintroduces rapid tests for travelers arriving from China. “I have ordered, by ordinance, mandatory Covid-19 antigenic swabs, and related virus sequencing, for all passengers from China and in transit through Italy“, the minister said, as reported by the agency Adnkronos.

Schillaci’s measure actually exceeds i recommended checks in progress for a few days at Malpensa airport, in Milan, and scheduled in Fiumicino, in the capital. The risk of the spread of new variants worries the experts.

The situation:

1. In Milan, one positive out of 2 among travelers from China
2. Spallanzani’s warning
3. The other countries

What we know about the new and worrying wave of Covid-19 in China

Here’s how the Chinese government is acting and what defense measures some countries have taken

In Milan, one positive out of 2 among travelers from China

The data arriving from Malpensa, on the other hand, confirm the widespread circulation of the virus. Almost a passenger out of two, among those who arrived at Malpensa on 26 December from China on board two flights, tested positive for Covid-19 after the non-mandatory swab established by the Lombardy Region, according to the data presented by the councilor for Welfare Guido Bertolaso. “On the first flight – explained Guido Bertolaso ​​- out of 92 passengers, 35 (38%) are positive. In the second, out of 120 passengers 62 (52%) are positive“. The commissioner explained that it was activated”the sequencing procedure. Tomorrow morning (December 29, ed) we will have the first results“.

Even in Fiumicino everything was ready to start the tests, coordinated by the Spallanzani institute in Rome. As he explains Handle“disembarked passengers who test positive for Covid will be isolated in special facilities. Currently there are no longer any covid hotels, dismantled with the end of the emergency, but those who test positive will be hosted in ad hoc health facilities that are still active”.

From Saturday 24 December, adds the Ministry of Health, Schillaci has followed the outcome of the swabs on passengers arriving at Malpensa originating from China and recommended sequencing of all variants. In parallel, the comparison with the control room of the Higher Institute of Health for monitoring the progress of infections from Covid-19.

WHO concerns on the increase of Covid-19 cases in China

Official numbers continue to remain low. But since the abandonment of the zero covid policy, suspicions of a hidden and rapidly growing epidemic are multiplying

Spallanzani’s warning

They come right from the Spallanzani Institute prompted to intervene urgently. The “The problem of China today must be tackled promptly and with international cohesion. The data, few and not very transparent, are creating fear in the international community, including the scientific one”, reads a passage of a report on Covid-19- And again: “In a country with a high percentage of unvaccinated people where ineffective vaccines have been used which give a low population protection, such a strong exponential growth of infections can generate the selection of a new variant, much more immuno-evasive and transmissible“.

The risk? That the new variant “ferries the evolution of Sars-Cov-2 beyond omicron, the globally dominant variant since the end of 2021“. Spallanzani also states that “at the moment, the little information coming from China indicates which variants are fueling this new massive wave of infections they are the same ones that have already been circulating globally for some time, therefore still within the omicron subvariants“.

How to tell from symptoms if you have Covid-19, respiratory syncytial virus or flu

All three can cause very similar pictures, with some differences we can notice. However, the last word remains with the tests.

The other countries

Many countries have already moved to restore checks on travelers from China. In India the result of the negative swab must be shown, while in Japan the obligation of a swab has just been decided, as a temporary emergency measure against the increase in infections. According to Bloombergthe United States could too impose similar restrictive measures, while the European Union has not yet taken any coordinated measures.