Italy decided on Wednesday to introduce mandatory tests for COVID-19 for all people arriving from China, a country that has faced an explosion of infections after the sudden easing of restrictions, AFP and Reuters reported, cited by Agerpres.

“This measure is essential to ensure the surveillance and detection of possible (new) variants of the virus in order to protect the Italian population,” Italian Health Minister Orazio Scillacci said.

“Surveillance and prevention through sequencing are fundamental for the timely detection of possible new variants (of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus) that are currently not circulating in Italy,” he explained earlier. , when he announced that mandatory testing of people arriving from China was still under review.

The Lombardy region in northern Italy and Rome’s Fiumicino Airport announced on Wednesday, ahead of an official decision by the Italian government, that they had decided to require all passengers arriving from China to undergo a COVID-19 test.

Corona virus infections are causing new concerns in China

The country is experiencing an explosion of COVID-19 cases after the easing of restrictions caused by unprecedented protests against anti-epidemic measures that have lasted three years and caused a state of population saturation.

Nearly a week after protests against China’s zero-contagion policy erupted in China, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in early December that the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was less lethal and therefore allowed for “more flexibility.”

Then the official press began to minimize the risks associated with this option, publishing articles and interviews with experts who support this approach.

The Chinese government no longer publishes disease numbers and has changed its methodology for counting deaths, so only deaths caused by respiratory failure caused by COVID-19 are counted as deaths related to the disease.