EU to discuss coordinated response to China Covid situation on Wed

European Union government health officials will hold talks on Wednesday on a coordinated response to the surge in Covid-19 infections in China, the Swedish EU presidency said on Monday, after December talks concluded with no decisions on the matter.

At a similar meeting on Dec. 29, held online among over 100 representatives from EU governments, EU health agencies and the World Health Organisation, Italy urged the rest of the EU to follow its lead and test travellers from China for Covid, with Beijing poised to lift travel restrictions on Jan. 8.

But others in the 27-nation EU said they saw no need to do so despite China's decision to loosen its pandemic restrictions amid a wave of new infections.

"There is a scheduled Integrated Political Crisis Response meeting on Wednesday, January 4, for an update of the Covid-19 situation in China and to discuss possible EU...