The Office of the Director of the World Health Organization in Europe said, on Tuesday, that the organization does not see an “urgent threat” to the European region from the outbreak of Covid-19 in China, but that more information is needed.
China is facing a large-scale outbreak of the Corona virus after suddenly easing restrictions.
Hans Kluge said that based on information obtained by the organization from China, there is no danger, but more detailed and regular information from China is needed to monitor the development of the situation.
“We cannot be complacent,” he added.
Several countries have imposed Covid tests on Chinese travellers. Australia and Canada require travelers from China to undergo a COVID-19 test before boarding their flights.
Other countries, including the United States, India, Japan, South Korea and several European countries, have announced stricter restrictions on travelers from China, amid concerns about the lack of data related to infection in China and the emergence of new mutated strains.
And China similarly threatened countries from which travelers were required to show a negative test result for Covid within only 48 hours before their flights. And today, Tuesday, it suspended the issuance of visas for South Korean citizens to enter its territory for tourism or work, in what appears to be a reciprocal move for Seoul.
“We recognize that a number of countries, from a precautionary perspective, are applying some measures,” said the director of the World Health Organization in Europe. It is not unreasonable for countries to take some precautionary measures to protect their populations while we await more detailed information being shared through publicly available databases.” He added that any action must “stem from science and be appropriate and non-discriminatory”.
For her part, Catherine Smallwood, Director of COVID-19 Monitoring for Europe at Global Health, noted that “we should not be surprised at any moment by the exclusive focus on a particular geographical area.”
And at the beginning of this month, the Director-General of Global Health, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated that the organization was “concerned about the danger to life in China,” amid an explosive outbreak of the Corona virus across the country and the lack of outbreak data issued by the Chinese government.
He explained that the organization recently met with Chinese officials to highlight the importance of sharing more details about Covid cases and problems, including hospitalization rates and genetic sequences, even as the pandemic continued to decline in the rest of the world since it began in late 2019.