«The first laboratory results show in China the circulation of variants and sub-lineages already present in our territory and this is the most reassuring news». Health Minister Orazio Schillaci said this during the Senate briefing on the Covid situation following the emergency in China, underlining that the information arriving from the Asian country is insufficient and unreliable.
“Constant monitoring” is necessary for fear that a new variant of the SarsCoV2 virus will appear, “a variant that goes beyond Omicron”, but at the same time it is important “to avoid alarmist interpretations – he added – At the moment the variants that fuel the cases in China they are the same ones that have already been circulating globally for some time». “To strengthen monitoring of the potential risks associated with the situation in China, I have convened the crisis unit for tomorrow as the ministry’s observatory on the matter.”
Schillaci has also signed the extension of the use of masks in health care facilities and RSAs until next April 30th.
As for European coordination, the minister added: «A connection with the EU is needed to limit the influx of positive passengers from the Asian country, we have maintained relations with the ECDC for a continuous exchange of information for rapid measures and Italy participates in the early warning project’. Italy was the first European country to introduce thebuffer requirement to travelers from China while so far other governments have not seen fit to do so.