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The head of the World Health Organization’s European office said on Tuesday that the agency does not believe the outbreak of COVID-19 in China poses “an immediate threat” to the European region but needs more information.
China is battling a nationwide outbreak of the coronavirus after abruptly easing restrictions.
Hans Kluge said that according to the information WHO received from China, there was no threat, but more detailed and regular information from China was needed to monitor the changing situation.
“We cannot afford to be complacent,” he added.
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Several countries have introduced COVID-19 testing requirements for Chinese travelers. Australia and Canada require travelers from China to be tested for COVID-19 before boarding a flight. Other countries, including the United States, India, Japan, South Korea and several European countries, have announced tougher COVID-19 measures for travelers from China amid concerns about a lack of infection data in China and fears that new variants may emerge.
China has threatened retaliation against countries that require travelers from China to test negative for COVID-19 within the past 48 hours.tuesday it Suspension of visa issuance to South Koreans Traveling or doing business in South Korea is obviously retaliation for Seoul’s move.
“We do recognize that some countries are implementing measures based on the precautionary principle,” said the WHO regional director for Europe.
“While we wait for more details to be shared in publicly accessible databases, it is not unreasonable for countries to take precautions to protect their populations,” he said. Any measures should be “rooted in science, … proportionate and non-discriminatory.” .
Catherine Smallwood, WHO’s European COVID-19 incident manager, added: “At no point should we be caught off guard by focusing on only one specific geographic area.”
Earlier this month, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency was “concerned that lives in China are at risk” due to the explosive spread of the coronavirus across the country and the lack of outbreak data from the Chinese government. He said the agency recently met with Chinese officials to emphasize the importance of sharing more details about COVID-19 issues, including hospitalization rates and genetic sequences, even as the pandemic continues to ebb globally since it began in late 2019.
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