Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg on Saturday advised their citizens to avoid non-essential travel to China as the Asian country faced an unprecedented recent surge in Covid-19.

The reason for issuing this travel advisory is “the peak of infections in China and the overburdened healthcare system,” the German Foreign Ministry’s rapid response center said on Twitter.

Luxembourg, in turn, “joins the decision” of Germany and calls for avoiding travel to China, the Grand Duchy’s foreign ministry said late on Saturday.

Belgium offers the same advice: “Since December, China has faced its biggest wave of infections due to the end of the zero Covid policy. Due to the risk of overcrowding in hospitals and therefore the risk of not being able to receive prompt treatment in case of an emergency, we advise against traveling for the time being,” the Foreign Office said in a statement on its website.

In the middle of the week, the European Union called on its member states to require travelers from China to be tested for the new coronavirus before leaving and to conduct “random testing” upon arrival in Europe. As a precaution, many countries (USA, Japan, France, Germany, etc.) have already taken similar measures.

Despite the spike in cases, Chinese authorities plan to lift the mandatory quarantine for travelers arriving in China from Sunday and allow Chinese people to travel abroad again.

Beijing condemned the decision of some countries to introduce mandatory tests for Chinese travelers and threatened to take similar countermeasures.

For its part, the World Health Organization condemns the controversial methods used by Beijing to count Covid-19 victims. Although Chinese hospitals are overwhelmed with patients and crematoria are overflowing, authorities confirm several deaths from the novel coronavirus.

Source: RES-IPE