Covid alarm all over the world after the easing of anti-contagion restrictions in China a few days before the Chinese New Year, the most important holiday of the year, when millions of people will travel again to reunite with family and friends inside of the country or outside the borders after a three-year stop.

From Beijing they speak of a "situation under control" , but according to the British research company Airfinity, there are currently over a million new cases of Covid-19 and at least 5,000 deaths a day in the country. And the situation is likely to get even worse.

«I have ordered, by ordinance , mandatory Covid-19 antigenic swabs , and related sequencing of the virus , for all passengers coming from China and in transit through Italy . The measure is essential to ensure the surveillance and identification of any variants of the virus in order to protect the Italian population» the words of the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci.

According to the ministry, " at the moment in Italy there are no worrying variants , but surveillance and prevention, through sequencing, are essential to promptly identify any new dangerous variants".

INTERNATIONAL ALARM – Numerous measures have already been taken in other countries as well: in Japan , starting Friday, travelers from China will be forced to take a swab and the positives will have to undergo a 7-day quarantine. India , for its part, had already decided that those arriving from China, as well as from other countries, must show a negative test. Malaysia has imposed tracking and surveillance measures.

The United States could impose measures similar to those decided by Japan and Malaysia. The same sources add that Washington would be concerned about the jump in cases in China and would have raised doubts about the transparency of Beijing's data on infections .

Taiwan today announced the introduction of PCR tests for those arriving from China.

IN ITALY – Almost one in two passengers at Malpensa , among those who arrived at the Lombard airport from China on 26 December on board two flights, tested positive for Covid after the non-mandatory swab prepared by the Lombardy Region.

«On the first flight - explained the councilor of the Lombardy Region for Welfare Guido Bertolaso - out of 92 passengers there are 35 (38%) positives. In the second, out of 120 passengers 62 (52%) are positive ». Now "we have activated the procedure for sequencing - he concluded - tomorrow morning we will have the first results. If it were only the Omicron variant, we will take note of it, we are practically all vaccinated and I don't think anything particularly stringent will have to be adopted". If instead, "and we hope not, there should be different variants , perhaps even unknown - he explained - it is clear that we will have to provide in a completely different way and it will be Minister Schillaci and the government who will have to give us the indications".

At Fiumicino , passengers disembarking and coming from China who test positive for Covid will be isolated in special structures . Currently there are no longer any covid hotels, dismantled as the emergency ended, but those who test positive will be hosted in ad hoc health facilities that are still active.

(Unioneonline/vl)

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