Berlin - (AFP) - Germany called on Friday for the establishment at European airports of a "monitoring system" for possible new variants of Covid-19, which may be dangerous in the face of the high number of infections in China, and refused at this stage to impose negative examinations on those coming from this. Country.

At a time when many countries, including the United States, will impose negative results for the Covid-19 examinations on all arrivals from China, German Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach does not see the point of this at this stage.

"All the variants detected so far are already known," he told the press in Berlin.

On the other hand, the Social Democratic minister expressed his support for monitoring systems at European airports that allow for rapid detection of dangerous new variants. He stressed that "directed surveillance, for example, of some aircraft may play a useful role" in this direction.

And he considered that "it is important for Europe to act here in a coordinated manner," adding that he would speak with his French counterpart on Friday in this regard.

Beijing's sudden abandonment of its "zero Covid" policy this month, which is supposed to perpetuate the resumption of Chinese travel abroad, came at a time when the country was facing the largest epidemic wave in the world.

Several countries, including Italy, Spain, Japan, South Korea, Israel and the United States, decided to impose negative examinations on all travelers coming from China.

And the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention considered that a measure of this kind would be “unjustified” in the European Union. He said that he does not believe that the high number of infections in China will affect the epidemiological situation in the bloc, "given the higher population immunity within the countries of the European Union and the European Economic Area, in addition to the fact that variants currently circulating in China have previously appeared and subsequently changed."