The isolation of the Chinese is coming to an end, as China is removing restrictions on foreign travel for its citizens. Europe is considering whether the Chinese should be required to undergo prior testing.
In addition to that, there have been many visitors from Malaysia, India and Hong Kong. However, according to Kärkkäinen, there have been no tourists from mainland China because China’s strict corona policies have prevented Chinese people from traveling abroad.
China is removing obstacles for its citizens to travel abroad, despite the fact that Corona is still raging all over China.
Before the corona, Lapland was a very popular destination for Chinese tourists, and now the concern is whether the Chinese will bring a new corona wave with them if they are allowed to come to Europe freely.
Some European countries and the United States have already announced that they will require the Chinese to test for the corona in advance.
In the opinion of the chief infectious disease doctor, it is necessary to act on the safe side
– If China has the same variants that we currently have in circulation, then the preliminary testing is irrelevant, because we already have those variants and there is no greater risk associated with them.
However, according to Broas, the threat is that there is no confirmed information about the quality of the variant, so the most reasonable solution is then to require preliminary testing.
– If there are variants on the market that circumvent the inoculation protection we have, then the most sensible thing to do is to demand prior testing like the countries that have announced that they will use it, says Markku Broas.
The EU’s common position is important
According to Broas, it is also very important to wait for what kind of decisions and instructions the EU’s crisis management mechanism will make at its meeting on Wednesday.
– If a common position cannot be reached, Finland will follow the precautionary principle and the corona ministerial group will make decisions accordingly later.
According to Kiuru, Sweden has said that it will introduce a prior testing requirement for tourists coming from China.