With Reuters – French authorities are resisting the imposition of coronavirus testing for arrivals from China, despite a surge in infections.

There is no need for France to impose border controls in reaction to a surge of coronavirus infections in China, the head of France’s health risks committee said on Thursday.

The French stance is in contrast to Italy’s, which imposed restrictions after a 50 percent of passengers on two flights from China to Milan Malpensa tested positive. Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called for a Europe-wide agreement to impose tests and restrictions on Chinese visitors.

China has recorded a sharp rise in cases since it relaxed strict measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus, prompting the United States, India, Japan and other countries to impose restrictions on travellers from mainland China, Reuters reports.

“From a scientific point of view, there is no reason to bring back controls at the border … but that could change any day,” Brigitte Autran, head of the French health risk assessment committee COVARS, said on French Radio Classique.

Autran – who advises the government on epidemiological risks – said that for now “the situation is under control” and that there are no signs of worrying new coronavirus variants in China.

“The variants circulating in China are all Omicron variants, which have circulated in France and against which we have acquired immunity,” she added in a separate interview with France Inter radio.

PHOTO: Malpensa