Coronavirus: WHO-Europe backs travel rules for US arrivals as Omicron subvariant XBB soars
- The health body said such measures must be implemented in a ‘non-discriminatory’ manner
- The WHO added it did not expect a surge of Covid infections in China to ‘significantly impact’ the situation in Europe
Given the rapid spread of the latest offshoot of the Omicron variant – XBB. 1.5 – in the United States, WHO Regional Office for Europe officials on Tuesday recommended travel measures be implemented in a “non-discriminatory” manner.
That is not to say that “we recommend testing of patient of passengers coming from the US at this stage. Countries need to look at the evidence base for pre-departure testing”, WHO’s senior emergency officer for Europe, Catherine Smallwood, told a news briefing.
Passengers should be recommended to wear masks in high-risk settings such as long-haul flights, she added, “this should be a recommendation issued to passengers arriving from anywhere where there is widespread Covid-19 transmission”.
The World Health Organization also said on Tuesday it did not expect a surge of Covid-19 cases in China to “significantly impact” the situation in Europe.
“The ongoing surge in China is not anticipated to significantly impact the Covid-19 epidemiological situation in the WHO European Region at this time,” Hans Kluge, WHO’s Europe director, told a press conference.
But, he stressed, “we cannot be complacent”.
Coronavirus: concerns about 40 per cent of US cases caused by XBB subvariant
China’s hospitals have been overwhelmed by an explosion in cases since Beijing began unwinding hardline controls that had torpedoed the economy and sparked nationwide protests.
The WHO’s European region comprises 53 countries and includes Russia and countries in Central Asia.
More than a dozen countries have slapped fresh travel regulations on travellers from China.
A group of European Union experts last week “strongly encouraged” the bloc’s 27 member states to demand Covid tests from people on flights from China and conduct random tests on arrivals.
Kluge also urged countries to step up surveillance efforts such as sequencing variants, noting that many had “greatly reduced” their capacities.
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Meanwhile, a WHO committee will meet on January 27 to consider whether the Covid-19 pandemic still represents a global emergency, a spokesperson said on Tuesday, three years after it was first declared.
WHO spokesperson Carla Drysdale confirmed the timing of the meeting at a Geneva press briefing. The Emergency Committee advises WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus who makes the ultimate call on whether an outbreak represents a so-called Public Health Emergency of International Concern which is the UN agency’s highest level of alert.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
