EU to nix COVID test policy on China

European Union countries have agreed to phase out COVID-19 test requirements for travelers from China, a policy that was introduced in early January and opposed by China when the country was about to lift its strict restrictions.

The decision agreed upon by the 27 member states on Thursday was made "in light of the recent epidemiological developments and taking into account the opinion of the Heath Security Committee", the Swedish presidency of the EU Council said in a statement.

The EU agreed to phase out the requirement for negative predeparture COVID-19 tests for travelers from China to member states by the end of February, and to phase out random testing of travelers from China to member states by the end of March.

The statement came after a meeting on the same day during which EU member states involved in the Integrated Political Crisis Response — with Schengen Associated countries present — reviewed the situation.

The IPCR is the EU's crisis response mechanism to coordinate the political response to major cross sectoral and complex crises.

In Sweden, which assumes the rotating presidency of the EU Council in the first half of this year, its Public Health Agency has announced that the country will be lifting all entry requirements for travelers from China starting Feb 19.

Rooted in science

EU countries agreed on Jan 4 on a number of measures including face masks, preflight testing and wastewater surveillance for travelers from China, but none of the measures was mandatory, leaving it to individual countries to decide whether to implement them.

The measures were considered by some as discriminatory since the EU did not take any precautionary measures against the XBB.1.5, a new variant circulating in the United States.

Hans Kluge, head of the World Health Organization for Europe, pointed out in early January that the two variants circulating in China are already present in European countries. He said then that it was important for the precautionary travel measures being introduced by European countries "to be rooted in science, to be proportionate and nondiscriminatory".

The EU's concern about new variants from China turned out to be unwarranted.

A study published by The Lancet last week showed that there had been no new COVID-19 variants in China since it lifted its strict policy. The analysis by researchers in China of cases between Nov 14 and Dec 20 found that more than 90 percent were of the Omicron subvariants BA.5.2 and BF.7, similar to the ones circulating widely in the EU and European Economic Area during the fall of 2022 before the surge in cases in China.

The analysis by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control also found that BA.5.2 and BF.7 were dominant.