Austria Will Examine Waste Water from China Flights

Austrian authorities will be closely monitoring the wastewater coming from China from aircrafts, following concerns about China's COVID situation.

Most European countries support imposing restrictions on Chinese visitors. This is something that China has rejected.

Austria will test the water quality of China-bound flights

Reuters first reported that the Austrian Federal Ministry for Social Affairs, Health and Consumer Protection plans to test water samples taken from flights from China. There are fears that new strains of COVID could be emerging after a sharp rise in cases in China. Austria's health ministry stated:

"Starting next week, Austria will examine samples from the wastewater from aircraft from China."

Authorities plan to monitor the wastewater in popular tourist destinations like Hallstatt, which is a well-known tourism spot. Austria has had a wastewater monitoring program in Vienna since 2021, to monitor new variants.

The health ministry further added that:

"With this, some places frequently visited by tourists from China are regularly examined. This makes it possible to discover new virus variants, even if visitors from China have not entered the country with direct flights."

This announcement follows a Belgium announcement that it will implement a similar program to monitor wastewater on flights from China. Steven Van Gucht, Sciensano's national public health institute, said that the initiative was more about verifying the accuracy of data received from China than it is tracking individuals infected.

Today's EU crisis meeting

Today's crisis meeting of European Union officials will determine whether a coordinated response to China’s COVID situation needs to be taken. The European Commission stated that a "large majority" of its member countries supported widespread testing of all flights from China after a Tuesday meeting with health officials.

Stella Kyriakides, EU health commissioner, said that officials had agreed to improve wastewater monitoring programs at airports and on flights to monitor for potentially dangerous COVID variants. Even though stricter measures seem unlikely at this stage, there are suggestions that the EU could recommend that COVID travel restrictions, including travel bans and vaccine passports, be restored for most of 2020 and 2021.

China launches COVID measures

China has threatened to retaliate by condemning the travel restrictions. A few countries, including the United States introduced China COVID travel restrictions on Monday. Several other countries, including Australia and the UK, followed suit. Most of these countries require testing either pre-departure or on arrival. However, in certain countries, such as Malaysia and the United States, monitoring apps may be required for any positive cases.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said:

"We believe that the entry restrictions adopted by some countries targeting China lack scientific basis, and some excessive practices are even more unacceptable. We are firmly opposed to attempts to manipulate the COVID measures for political purposes and will take countermeasures based on the principle of reciprocity."

After reporting only three COVID deaths on Monday, China has now reduced its apparent COVID epidemic. China has been criticized for not being transparent about COVID-related data. This makes it difficult for global health authorities and the public to follow the progress of the virus.

 

Source: simpleflying.com