Amid a surge in respiratory illnesses and clusters of pneumonia in children in China, that has attracted global attention, five Republican senators led by Marco Rubio on Friday asked President Joe Biden’s administration to ban travel between the United States and China.
“We should immediately restrict travel between the United States and (China) until we know more about the dangers posed by this new illness,” said the letter signed by Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The World Health Organization has requested China to share more information citing a report on clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children by the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases.
While the WHO later said health authorities have not detected any unusual or novel pathogens, Taiwan has advised the elderly, very young and those with poor immunity to avoid travel to China.
The White House and the Chinese embassy in the US did not immediately comment, news agency Reuters reported.
Maria Van Kerkhove, acting director of the WHO’s department of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, said earlier this week the increase appeared to be driven by a rise in the number of children contracting pathogens that they had avoided during two years of the Covid-19 curbs.
In January 2020, then US President Donald Trump barred most non-US citizens who had been in China in the prior two weeks from coming to the United States over concerns about Covid-19. Trump, however, did not restrict or limit flights between the two countries.
In recent months, the United States and China have been steadily increasing flights between the countries.
The United States lifted the unprecedented travel restrictions for fully vaccinated international visitors starting in November 2021, including from China. The US revoked a separate requirement for air travellers to test negative before arriving in June 2022.
In January, the US started requiring air passengers to get negative Covid tests after Beijing’s decision to lift its stringent zero-Covid policies and lifted the requirements in March.
What’s happening in China?
The surge in respiratory illnesses comes as China braces for its first full winter season since it lifted strict Covud-19 restrictions in December last year.
Some social media users have posted photos of children receiving intravenous drips in a hospital, while media in cities such as Xian in the northwest have posted videos of crowded hospitals, fanning concerns about potential strains on the healthcare system.
Is it a big surge?
The National Health Commission told the media on November 13 that there was an increase in the incidence of respiratory disease without providing further details.
WHO China told Reuters in an email that “Chinese health authorities advised that the current numbers they are observing is not greater than the peak in the most recent cold season prior to the COVID-19 pandemic”.
Are experts concerned?
Reuters reported that doctors in China and experts abroad are not too worried about the situation in China, noting many other countries saw similar increases in respiratory diseases after easing pandemic measures.