“We have understood that the situation is very serious and that we want to take further measures in addition to those already taken,” Merkel told reporters at Thursday’s news conference. The press briefing is also Merkel’s last before she leaves office a grim note to end her 16 years as German chancellor. The announcement comes as Germany battles a surge in cases that has pushed Europe back to the epicenter of the pandemic, heightening fears over the newly discovered Omicron variant. “With many countries grappling with overstretched health systems, shortages in essential medicines and an exhausted health workforce – we cannot afford more pressures on our health systems.”įinally, Dr Kluge urged countries across Europe and Central Asia to step up efforts to put effective strategies in place to combat the spread of COVID-19 and avoid being complacent.Acting Chancellor Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz hold a press conference on tightened Covid-19 restrictions Thursday. The new strain is being “picked up in small, but growing numbers, and we are working to assess its potential impact,” he said. He commended European countries, including Denmark, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, that have maintained strong genomic surveillance and pointed out that their recent data has started to indicate the growing presence of the new XBB.1.5 recombinant virus, derived from the Omicron variant, that has already been spreading rapidly across the United States. However, this declined to about 90,000 cases in the last 5 weeks of the year.ĭr Kluge stressed that countries must build upon the lessons learned over the last three years and be able to anticipate, detect and respond in time to SARS-CoV-2, and any emerging health threat. In the first five weeks of 2022, variant information on 1.2 million cases was submitted as part of weekly surveillance data to the WHO and the ECDC. In two further messages to the WHO European Region, Dr Kluge warned against countries greatly reducing their surveillance capacity for COVID-19. The move appears to be in response to COVID-19 testing requirements recently imposed by those countries on travellers from China.Ī notice posted in Seoul reportedly said the ban would continue until South Korea lifts its “discriminatory entry measures” against China.Īt least ten countries in Europe, North America and Asia have announced new virus testing requirements for travellers from China, with officials expressing concern about a lack of adequate information about rapidly spreading virus outbreaks in China.Ī three-year-old child at home in Lyon, France, during a COVID-19 lockdown. The announcement covered tourist, business and some other visa categories. The message comes as Chinese embassies suspended issuing new visas for South Koreans and Japanese visitors on Tuesday. The WHO senior official acknowledged that China had shared virus sequencing information, but he appealed for more “detailed and regular information”, especially concerning local epidemiology and variants “to better assess the evolving situation”.ĭr Kluge also said that travel restrictions by European countries on visitors from China were “ not unreasonable…while we are waiting for more detailed information that is shared through publicly available databases”.īut he said it was important for the precautionary travel measures being introduced by European countries “ to be rooted in science, to be proportionate and non-discriminatory”. “We share the current view of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) that the ongoing surge in China is not anticipated to significantly impact the COVID-19 epidemiological situation in the WHO European Region at this time.” Restrictions 'not unreasonable'
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