Five Republican senators led by Marco Rubio on Friday asked President Joe Biden’s administration to ban travel between the United States and China after a spike in Chinese respiratory illness cases.
“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, along with Senators J.D. Vance, Rick Scott, Tommy Tuberville and Mike Braun.
The rise in cases became a global issue last week when the World Health Organization asked China for more information, citing a report on clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children by the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases.
A Biden administration official said the United States was closely monitoring the uptick in respiratory illnesses in China, but added, “We are seeing seasonal trends. Nothing is appearing out of the ordinary. … At this time, there is no indication that there is a link between the people who are seeking care in U.S. emergency departments and the outbreak of respiratory illness in China.”
The spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, said in response to the Rubio letter, “The relevant claims are purely ill-intentioned fabrications. China firmly opposes them.”
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 COVID-19 restrictions.
In recent months, the United States and China have been steadily increasing flights between the countries, though they remain far below 2019 levels. The number approved rose on Nov. 9 to 35 per week for each country, up from 12 per week in August.
In January 2020, then-President Donald Trump barred most non-U.S. citizens who had recently been in China from entering the United States over COVID concerns but did not restrict flights between the two countries.
The United States lifted the unprecedented travel restrictions for fully vaccinated international visitors starting in November 2021, including from China. The U.S. rescinded a separate requirement that air travelers test negative before arriving in June 2022.
The United States in January had started requiring air passengers to get negative COVID tests after Beijing decided to lift its stringent zero-COVID policies, but lifted the requirements in March.
In recent months, the United States and China have been steadily increasing flights between the countries, though they remain far below 2019 levels. The number approved rose on Nov. 9 to 35 per week for each country, up from 12 per week in August.
In January 2020, then-President Donald Trump barred most non-U.S. citizens who had recently been in China from entering the United States over COVID concerns but did not restrict flights between the two countries.
The United States lifted the unprecedented travel restrictions for fully vaccinated international visitors starting in November 2021, including from China. The U.S. rescinded a separate requirement that air travelers test negative before arriving in June 2022.
The United States in January had started requiring air passengers to get negative COVID tests after Beijing decided to lift its stringent zero-COVID policies but lifted the requirements in March.
What do we know about China’s respiratory illness surge?
A request by the World Health Organization for more information on a surge in respiratory illnesses and clusters of pneumonia in children in China has attracted global attention.
Health authorities have not detected any unusual or novel pathogens, the WHO later said, and doctors and public health researchers say there is no evidence for international alarm.
Authorities in Taiwan, however, this week advised the elderly, very young and those with poor immunity to avoid travel to China.
The following is what we know:
The rise in respiratory illnesses comes as China braces for its first full winter season since it lifted strict COVID-19 restrictions in December last year.
The spike in illness came into the spotlight when the WHO asked China for more information last week, citing a report by the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED) on clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children.
Some social media users have also posted photos of children receiving intravenous drips in hospitals, 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.
The National Health Commission told a news conference on Nov. 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 are not greater than the peak in the most recent cold season prior to the COVID-19 pandemic”.
WHY EXPERTS AREN’T CONCERNED?
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.
“The cases that we are seeing is nothing unusual at the moment, because it’s still the same cough, colds, fever presentation, and the good thing about it is that it’s treatable,” said Cecille Brion, head of the pediatrics department at Raffles Medical Group Beijing.
Van Kerkhove said that the rise in cases was expected.
“We are seeing, in general, an increase in respiratory infections around the world. We do tend to see increases in children because they’re school-aged children, and in the northern hemisphere it’s the autumn already. We’re entering the winter months,” she said.
Reuters
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