Many countries are currently looking to China and the corona wave rampant there with concern. However, the EU states were unable to reach an agreement on the question of a joint test requirement for people entering the country from China. Instead, they made a recommendation. Meanwhile, Austria is already testing the waste water from Chinese aircraft.
AUSTRIA/CHINA. After the sudden end of the Chinese zero-Covid policy, the country is currently being hit by a massive wave of infections. All over Europe there is concern about the introduction of new corona variants. Italy, France and Spain have therefore already ordered Covid tests for people arriving from China. At the beginning of the week, Austria’s Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) spoke out against such a national and instead for an EU-wide approach.
After a week of consultations with officials as part of the crisis mechanism, the EU limited itself to an “emphatically” recommendation for mandatory testing before departure from China, as the Austria Press Agency (APA) reported on Wednesday evening. It is also recommended to wear a mask and to carry out waste water checks. And travelers from China should be randomly tested upon arrival in the EU.
No agreement on mandatory testing
The EU states were divided in the debate and therefore could not agree on a common regulation. While Italy, for example, advocated compulsory testing, Germany was more cautious. Austria announced in advance that it would join the EU under certain conditions if it took a unified approach. “If the EU agrees on a mandatory test before departure, Austria would also implement this accordingly. I think that a mandatory test only upon entry makes little sense,” Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) told APA on Wednesday.
Austria is testing waste water from aircraft
Meanwhile, Austria has already started examining the waste water from all flights from China. The samples would be taken directly from the aircraft’s waste water tanks – this would allow new virus variants to be detected particularly precisely, according to an announcement by the Ministry of Health on Tuesday. The sewage treatment plant in Hallstatt, which is popular with tourists from China, is also to be included in the federal government’s wastewater monitoring.
Tourism has not yet detected a rush
The Austrian tourism industry is not yet recognizing any acute rush of guests from China. However, one expects that they will come back sooner or later, as the President of the Austrian Hotel Association, Walter Veith, explained on Wednesday in the Ö1 Morgenjournal. Dominic Schmid, chairman of the hotel industry group in the Vienna Chamber of Commerce, expects an increase in the number of Chinese guests from Easter.
China outraged by restrictions
The Chinese government reacted with outrage at the debate taking place in Europe. The entry restrictions imposed by some countries have no scientific basis and are partly unacceptable, said spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, Mao Ning, on Tuesday. She announced countermeasures.
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