Cape Town - A World Health Organization committee (WHO) will meet on January 27 to consider whether the Covid-19 pandemic still represents a global emergency, a spokesperson said on Tuesday, three years after it was first declared.
The WHO spokesperson, Carla Drysdale, confirmed the timing of the meeting at a Geneva press briefing.
The Emergency Committee advises WHO director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus who makes the ultimate call on whether an outbreak represents a so-called Public Health Emergency of International Concern which is the UN agency’s highest level of alert.
Several leading scientists and WHO advisers say it may be too early to declare the end of the Covid-19 pandemic emergency phase because of high levels of infections in China which dismantled its zero-Covid policy last month.
However, the WHO also said on Tuesday that it did not expect a surge in cases in China to “significantly impact” the situation in Europe.
“The ongoing surge in China is not anticipated to significantly impact the Covid-19 epidemiological situation in the WHO European Region at this time,” Hans Kluge, WHO’s Europe director, told a press conference.
But, he stressed, “we cannot be complacent”.
China’s hospitals have been overwhelmed by the number of cases since Beijing began unwinding hardline controls that had torpedoed the economy and sparked nationwide protests.
The WHO’s European region comprises 53 countries and includes Russia and countries in Central Asia.
The regional director said it was “not unreasonable for countries to take precautionary measures to protect their populations” but called for such measures “to be rooted in science, to be proportionate and non-discriminatory”.
A group of EU experts last week encouraged the bloc’s 27 member states to demand Covid tests from people on flights from China and conduct random tests on arrivals.
Kluge also urged countries to step up surveillance efforts such as sequencing variants, noting that many had “greatly reduced” their capacities.
Meanwhile, China suspended issuing short-term visas to South Koreans and Japanese nationals on Tuesday, its embassies in Seoul and Tokyo said, in apparent retaliation for restrictions imposed on Chinese travellers.
The measure was announced first in South Korea, which has introduced a host of new rules for visitors from China, including visa restrictions and testing requirements.
It joined more than a dozen countries that have imposed new travel rules over worries of surging Covid-19 infections in China.
“Chinese embassies and consulates in Korea will suspend the issuance of short-term visas for Korean citizens,” Beijing’s embassy in Seoul said.
It said the measures would be “adjusted again in line with South Korea’s removal of the discriminatory measures”. Flights from the mainland can only land at specific airports, although Hong Kong arrivals are exempt from the new rules.
According to official figures, 2 224 Chinese nationals on short-term visas have landed in South Korea since January 2, with 17.5% testing positive on arrival.
South Korea has limited issuing short-term visas for Chinese nationals to public officials, diplomats, and those with crucial humanitarian and business purposes until the end of the month.
All flights from China are also now required to land at South Korea’s main Incheon International Airport.
South Korea’s southern-most Jeju Island, which has its own international airport and separate visa entry regime, had been a popular destination for Chinese tourists before the pandemic.
South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement Seoul had “communicated with China in advance” about the measures and that the information was “shared transparently with the international community”.
Beijing’s foreign ministry said it was “regrettable” that “a few countries still insist on discriminatory entry restrictions against China”.