London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Jul 22, 2025

What China’s new coronavirus wave means for Europe

What China’s new coronavirus wave means for Europe

As Europe kicks the can on travel measures, experts slam Italy’s decision to test arrivals from China.

Europe’s expert infectious disease body, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), has branded screenings and travel measures on people arriving from China as “unjustified,” following Italy's introduction of mandatory testing.

While the Continent is on high alert for another possible surge in coronavirus cases after China loosened its restrictions, so far, the bloc has declined to join Italy in imposing travel measures. In addition, Europe’s infectious disease experts have presented several reasons why there is no need to fear China’s surging cases, and why, in fact, Italy’s approach could be damaging.

Nonetheless, some EU leaders are mulling new measures to curb infections from China. France’s President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that he had asked the government for "appropriate measures" to protect people, reported Le Figaro.

However, at a press conference on Thursday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni confirmed that Italy has not yet identified any concerning mutations in the virus, with samples sequenced so far all being linked to the long-dominant Omicron strain.

So does China's COVID-19 wave pose a major threat to Europe? Are travel measures prudent or political overkill? Here's what you need to know.


Are we heading back to EU-wide restrictions?


No. At least, not now.

Ministers from the European Union’s 27 members, as well as EEA countries, gave no sign on Thursday that this would be happening soon.

Meeting with the European Commission, the ECDC and the World Health Organization (WHO), under the guise of the EU Health Security Committee, they discussed what measures were necessary, if any, to avert another COVID crisis.

And the answer, for now, is let’s keep talking. Read: no action.

“Coordination of national responses to serious cross border threats to health is crucial,” the Commission’s health directorate DG SANTE tweeted after the closed-door meeting. “We need to act jointly & will continue our discussions.”

A Commission spokesperson added in a statement that the Commission will “continue to facilitate discussions between Member States and stand ready to convene further meetings if needed.”

Patients in the lobby of the Chongqing No. 5 People's Hospital in Chongqing


Europe’s expert infectious disease body, the ECDC, took a much stronger line.

“Evaluations have shown that travel measures can be beneficial and justified within a [10-to-14-day] time window,” the agency said in an emailed statement to POLITICO. That means right at the beginning of a pandemic or the emergence of a new variant.

“Longer travel measures on the other hand can have unintended negative consequences,” the agency said, such as economic impact and discrimination.


Will China’s COVID wave cause a new surge of cases in Europe?


Probably not. That’s because China is behind the global COVID curve when it comes to variants.

“Because China’s variants have been and gone in the rest of the world, the threat of these viruses coming back out of China and causing waves is pretty unlikely,” said virologist Tom Peacock of Imperial College, London. While they are mostly linked to the Omicron variant, those lineages are “less fit” compared with what is already circulating in Europe, he pointed out, so they won’t be able to compete with the strains of today.

Put another way, the variants currently observed in China “are not challenging for the immune response of EU/EEA citizens,” the ECDC said.

Testing in the Jing'an district in Shanghai


In addition, the relative number of cases being imported from China is low compared with the current number of daily cases in EU countries.

Across the WHO Europe region, there were close to a million new cases reported in the week before Christmas alone, a WHO Europe spokesperson said, and this is probably a “great underestimate” given limited testing and surveillance.


Could the Chinese surge deliver a nasty new variant?


This, according to French virologist Bruno Lina, is also unlikely. In fact, he went as far as to describe it as a “fantasy” to Les Echos.

That’s because immune pressure causes a virus to evolve so that it can evade antibodies. “But in China, there is no immune pressure,” he said, referring to the low prior infection levels.

Before this wave, only around 2 percent of the Chinese population had been infected with COVID, he said, and around 60 percent have been vaccinated, mostly with China’s Sinovac, which was shown to be less effective than mRNA vaccines.

But Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, is more cautious.

“We cannot be complacent,” he told POLITICO. “We know that widespread transmission in large populations with less-than-optimal vaccination coverage anywhere are risk factors for the emergence of new variants of concern.”

Kluge reiterated the WHO’s call for “vigilance, testing and sequencing of the virus — and, very important — transparent data sharing. This applies to all countries across all regions,” he said.


Is Europe equipped to deal with more COVID?


Right now, that’s debatable.

Many health systems are operating at peak capacity, with surging cases of respiratory diseases including seasonal influenza, respiratory syncytial virus and Strep A, as well as COVID.

But COVID hospitalizations remain relatively low.

“EU health care systems are currently able to manage COVID-19 infections,” the ECDC spokesperson said, noting that European citizens have “relatively high immunization and vaccination levels.”

But they could be higher. The WHO’s Kluge urged in a tweet that all 53 countries in the WHO Europe region “renew vaccination efforts,” adding that the “current global scenario underscores the urgency.”

EU leaders are mulling new measures to curb infections from China


He also urged countries to review and replenish their supplies of medicines, such as antibiotic penicillin, COVID-19 vaccines and antivirals. “Stockpiles of essential medicines are running low across the @WHO_Europe Region,” he tweeted.

The WHO spokesperson underscored the importance of genetic sequencing to give the region early sight of any possibly dangerous variants. “The key issue, as always, is to ensure strong genomic surveillance to pick up at an early stage any possible changes in the virus and modify our intervention measures accordingly,” the spokesperson said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
×