After three years of tight control, China rescinded its zero Covid policy on Dec. 7. He did it without transition, from one day to the next. Y the decision caused an outbreak of cases which keeps the rest of the world in suspense again. The United States, the European Union and the main countries have begun to require the use of masks on planes and negative tests for passengers flying from the Asian giant. This is a preventive reaction to the foreseeable flood of travelers due to the elimination of the mandatory quarantine, the last shield against the virus which will be withdrawn tomorrow, and slowed down the departure of Chinese citizens.
The West is again trying to protect itself. But some experts warn that we are reliving the same covid ‘theater’ of three years ago. Although the situation in China is worrying, especially due to the reliability of the data offered, it is not believed that there could be a large impact from the latest wave. Spain and the vast majority of European countries have an immunized populationthanks to vaccination and the number of people who have already overcome the disease.
97.5 percent of cases are “micron”, ie sub-lineages of the Omicron variant that have already invaded Europe. Specifically, 97.5 percent of infections in China are caused by BA.5.2 and BF.7, which have already been detected in Spain and other European countries, according to the latest World Health Organization report. data from the Chinese health agency authority.
“For me I’m more concerned about other variants that have emerged in the US, such as XBB.1.5, which is growing very fast in New York,” advises biochemistry professor José Manuel Bautista. This veterinarian and expert on epidemics, such as malaria, has transformed the Complutense University during the pandemic into a covid testing nerve center in Madrid and continues to monitor the infection.
While he has learned that this virus is unpredictable, for now he is more concerned about the threat that could come from the United States than from China. “The XBB.1.5 variant is a fusion that has acquired very good mutations for the virus, which means this it has a higher transmission capacity and is better able to evade the immune response, two advantageous characteristics for the Covid virus ”, he explains to Abc.
This new variant, dubbed in the media as “Kraken” or “nightmare variant” was first detected in New York and Connecticut and has spread rapidly throughout the northeastern United States and is starting to spread throughout Europe as well. “To establish controls on travelers, it would make more sense to do it for those coming from New York than for those from China,” he says.
Of the same opinion is María del Mar Faraco, president of the Association of Foreign Health Doctors. Think about it there is no point in establishing such controls where a negative test is requested before boarding and spot tests are performed on passengers upon arrival. “I don’t see the decision to do this to travelers from China as a useful measure. It’s an overreaction and response to public unrest, not an effective and proportionate public health response,” he told the ABC.
Two flights to Spain
In Spain, as in other European countries, The vaccination schedule is already required for travelers from China and some of them are tested for Covid. Health Minister Carolina Darias anticipated the EU decision. Only two weekly flights arrive from Beijing to Madrid, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, the control of which is entrusted to the Foreign Health Authority. The Ministry has not yet strengthened its teams.
“The control of the possible infected at the exit can somehow delay the global transmission, the entry or the vaccination certificate no,” Faraco insists. He considers him the head of the Foreign Health doctors If flights arriving from New York were screened, it ‘wouldn’t have the same visual impact’.
The biggest the protection against every variant of Covid continues to be vaccination and hygiene measures that we all already know: the ventilation of closed spaces and the use of the mask in small spaces and at high risk of contagion such as public transport. “I haven’t let my guard down, I still wear a mask when I enter the subway or a mall and I haven’t known what a cold or flu is for more than two years.”
