Following China’s reopening of borders to international travel and abandonment of the strict quarantine rules, several countries around the world have re-instated travel restrictions, including pre-departure, testing requirements for people arriving from China.
Although the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) said at the time that screenings and travel measures on travellers coming from China was unjustified, the organisation did advise EU Member States to test plane wastewater in order to survey the emergence of any new virus variants, which could eventually pose a threat.
Belgium was among the first countries to start testing the wastewater, even before the recommendation was made by the European Council. Following the first analysis, Federal Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke announced on 31 January that the results did not reveal any worrying Covid-19 genome.
The first results are reassuring. It is a good thing that we reacted quickly and appropriately. I now look forward to the European consultation which takes place this week.
Frank Vandenbroucke, Belgium’s Federal Health Minister
The genome sequencing test conducted on the sample collected from the planes arriving from China did not find any previously unknown variants. Additionally, from a total of 2,130 passengers arriving in Belgium from China, only one failed to provide a negative PCR test taken before departure. The person in question took the test on arrival, having a negative result and being allowed to continue their journey.
Besides all travellers having negative tests certificates, further random testing was conducted on arrival, as part of the pack of measures adopted on 8 January. Nasal swab samples were taken from 72 passengers, on a voluntary basis, on their arrival at Brussels Airport. All of the results were negative.
These preliminary results could prompt the European Council’s Integrated Political Crisis Response (IPCR) to turn back on the decision made in January. Although at a first meeting, after China had announced in December the end of its zero-Covid policy, the IPCR followed the ECDC’s recommendation to not implement any travel restrictions, mounting pressure from Member States determined the Council to soon after agree on EU-wide testing requirements. The IPCR is due to meet again in the following days to re-assess the situation and issue new recommendations.
