“We must test travelers from China”
For Professor Claude Muller, there is no need to fear a more dangerous emerging variant. However, he pleads for measures with regard to travelers from the Middle Kingdom.
The opinion of a virologist
For Professor Claude Muller, there is no need to fear a more dangerous emerging variant. However, he pleads for measures with regard to travelers from the Middle Kingdom.
It is, as it were, an impression of deja-vu that worries Europe. The number of new contaminations has exploded in China since the very recent lifting of health restrictions. After enforcing an ultra-strict “zero covid” policy for three years, the country is once again allowing its inhabitants to travel abroad at a time when the incidents are of particular concern. A situation that raised fears of the worst and which has led a dozen countries to impose new rules on travelers from the Middle Kingdom. These now require travelers to test negative before their flight.
In Luxembourg, the government recently indicated that it was, at least for the moment, not “not planned” to impose covid tests or other restrictions for people arriving from China. Same story on the side of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) which explained that EU countries “have relatively high levels of immunization and vaccination” and that “variants circulating in China are already circulating in the ‘ ‘EU’. However, this is not the opinion of Professor and Doctor Claude Muller, virologist and immunologist at the Luxembourg Institute of Health. He explains himself.
Member states of the European Union are to discuss on Wednesday a common response to be adopted with regard to travelers coming from China, where the Covid-19 epidemic appears to be out of control. Do you also feel the same?
For me, it is clear that travelers from China should be taken care of in the same way as we would have been with other travelers when we were at the height of the pandemic. I am therefore talking about the obligation to be tested negatively before the trip. When we look at the incidence (the number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants, Ed) which currently reigns in China, such a decision is completely justified. Especially since this incidence rate will increase further in the coming days. Initially, these tests gave us the possibility of sequencing the strains that will be imported.
So far, Luxembourg has however said that such a measure was not on the agenda, at least for the moment…
Yes, there is no direct line between Luxembourg and China, except for cargo transport. Operationally speaking, I do not know if it would be possible to identify travelers to Luxembourg by origin and having passed through the largest international airports such as Frankfurt or Paris.
Zero covid? Such a strategy made no sense and was totally obsolete from the start.
In your opinion, has China done well to abandon its “zero covid” strategy?
The problem with this strategy basically made no sense. It was completely incomprehensible and obsolete from the start.
How could what is happening in China be dangerous for us? Are we underestimating this possible threat?
I don’t know if we are underestimating it, but it is clear that we have to observe the situation. In order to prevent the virus from spreading again in an accelerated manner in Europe and therefore in Luxembourg. Again, it would be necessary to sequence, at least initially, the strains taken from travelers arriving from China to have an overview of the imported strains.
Unlike China, we have managed to put in place, through a sustainable protection strategy, a certain collective immunity.
However, is this comparable to what the population experienced in 2020 and 2021?
Not at all. The situation today is completely different because a large part of the population is protected either by vaccination or by infection. Unlike China, we have managed to put in place through a sustainable protection strategy – immunization – a certain collective immunity.
Should we be afraid of seeing the emergence of new variants, more dangerous this time?
Honestly, I don’t believe it. It is a “danger” that is often mentioned by people who only learned of the existence of the coronavirus and zoonoses in 2020. Viruses, including that of covid-19, can accumulate mutations, okay. However, as I had already said almost a year ago, I think that the Omicron variant has all the most “optimal” characteristics (high contagiousness, relative resistance to the vaccine and less lethality, Editor’s note) for transmission and propagation effective of the virus.
So I don’t necessarily expect the strain currently circulating in China to be more dangerous. In my opinion, you shouldn’t worry too much. However, care must be taken as to what happens if the virus is under pressure from vaccines administered in China, which have only intermediate efficacy. It is in this sense that I recommend testing and sequencing.
How to explain such an explosion of cases in China when the country was one of the first ministers to launch its vaccination campaign and strict rules had applied until then?
It must be remembered that they had refused foreign vaccines, favoring their own vaccines but much less effective (around 50%, far behind Pfizer or Moderna, Ed). Perhaps it was a matter of political pride.
Chinese authorities now claim that 90% of the population is vaccinated. But how reliable is this data? It is better to consider the vaccination rate by age group and see if the most vulnerable people are indeed vaccinated. (According to the latest official figures communicated at the end of November, only 65.8% of those over 80 received at least two doses, and 40% a third injection, Ed).
Do you think that the lifting of Chinese health restrictions is likely to lead to a new wave of cases in Luxembourg?
No, I don’t think it will cause a new wave. On the other hand, we can limit the spread of the imported virus by testing the people concerned. It had worked throughout the pandemic, I don’t see why we couldn’t do it again.
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