Finland is drawing up restrictions for travelers arriving from China
MINISTER from family and social services Krista Kiuru (SDP) says that Finland will start drawing up restrictions for travelers arriving from China.
The European Union recommended on Wednesday that travelers from China be required to have a negative coronavirus test taken no later than 48 hours before departure due to China’s worsening coronavirus situation.
Member states are also recommended to introduce a mask authorization on all flights to and from China.
China has seen a rise in coronavirus infections since the government, in a sudden political U-turn, abandoned its hard-line restrictions on the 7th. December, when both hospitals and crematoria have failed. According to the Guardian.
The World Health Organization (WHO) criticized China on Wednesday for downplaying the number of hospitals, intensive care and especially deaths related to the coronavirus after the country dramatically narrowed the criteria for classifying Covid-19 deaths. China has officially recorded only 22 deaths from the coronavirus since last month, an increase in the number of deaths among prominent public figures has raised concerns among citizens.
“We don’t have complete information yet” Michael RyanWHO Director of Emergencies, stated to the Guardian on Wednesday.
Germany and Sweden have already announced testing requirements for passengers arriving from China, but there is hardly a consensus on the benefits of testing arrivals, Helsingin Sanomat wrote on Thursday. Jari JalavaA senior expert at the Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare (THL) stated to the newspaper that the testing requirement would have a rather small, if not completely non-existent, effect on the epidemiological situation in Finland.
“No country has succeeded in stopping new virus variants at its border during the pandemic with similar or even stricter measures,” he reminded.
Japan and the United States have also announced stricter border checks for those arriving from China.
Timo AronkytöOn Wednesday, the county manager of Vantaa and Kerava Welfare Services threw cold water on the idea of returning to mandatory large-scale testing of those arriving at Helsinki-Vantaa airport.
“Right now, we could send exactly zero nurses to the airport to test passengers. There is a shortage of nurses in hospitals and nursing homes. Moving them to the airport would unnecessarily endanger people’s health, he said stated For Helsingin Sanomat.
“There is no staff, no space – even if the money is available. The number of arriving passengers is much higher.”
Aronkytö estimates that a possible solution could be for the border authorities to deny the entry of those arriving from China without proof of a recent negative coronavirus test. “This wouldn’t be without holes either, because the coronavirus certificate could have been obtained two days before the flight and the infection half an hour [before arrival]”, he commented.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT