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Germany discourages non-essential travel to Covid-hit China

Germany on Saturday discouraged non-essential trips to China, the world's most populous nation, which is struggling with a surge in Covid cases after relaxing strict virus restrictions.

Published: 7 January 2023 12:59 CET

Two travellers are standing in front of an information board at BER Airport.

Two travellers standing in front of an information board at Berlin Airport. Photo: Picture alliance/dpa | Paul Zinken

“We currently discourage non-essential trips to China. The reason is a peak in Covid infections and an overwhelmed health system,” the German foreign ministry said on Twitter.

On Thursday, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach announced that Germany would ask arrivals from China for a negative coronavirus test, following a recommendation by European Union experts to tighten travel rules.

More than a dozen countries have put fresh travel regulations on travellers from China.

European Union experts this week “strongly encouraged” the bloc’s 27 member states to demand Covid tests from people on flights from China and conduct random tests on arrivals.

Several other EU nations — including Germany, France, Germany, Italy and Spain — have already announced Covid test requirements on travellers coming from the Asian nation.

The United States and Japan are among the non-European countries to have brought in similar measures.

Chinese authorities have said in recent days that the first wave of infections has hit a peak in cities including Beijing and Tianjin.

But the end is far from near, with officials warning of a multi-pronged outbreak in the coming weeks as city workers return to their rural hometowns during the winter travel season.

READ MORE: When will German states drop compulsory masks on public transport?

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Southern Germany sees explosion of mosquitos after floods

After severe floods in southern Germany, conditions are ripe for mosquito populations to explode, according to an expert in the region.

Rainer Bretthauer, environmental and climate protection officer at the city of Radolfzell on Lake Constance, told DPA that the popular holiday location is already seeing signs of a mosquito plague.

Bretthauer said that the floods have offered perfect conditions for egg laying, resulting in masses of mosquito offspring.

People living around the area or visiting should be prepared, Bretthauer said. He suggested, for instance, wearing loose-fitting and long clothing.

Timing also plays a role when you’re outside. “They tend to bite during twilight hours when the temperature is higher than 18C,” he said.

Mosquitos ‘not a bad thing for wildlife’

While growing mosquito hoards may ruin peoples’ camping trips and planned lake vacations, for local wildlife, the mosquitos are a good thing, according to the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Nabu).

“All the insects that are now developing are a very important food source for many fish species and also for birds,” said Eberhard Klein from Nabu in Constance.

Around 50 species of mosquitoes are known in Germany. Some of them are counted among the so-called floodwater mosquitoes, which increasingly hatch after flooding.

According to experts, these mosquitos are particularly zealous blood hunters, as they have to reproduce quickly before the favourable conditions disappear again.

Floodwater mosquitoes like to lay their eggs on moist soil, often in riparian zones and floodplains. There they can survive in the soil for several years.

When these zones flood and the temperature is favourable, the eggs develop and hatch mosquitos. Therefore large-scale flooding, as seen recently in Southern Germany, can lead to mass hatching.

Mosquito borne illness is spreading to Europe as temperatures warm

Warming temperatures brought by human-caused climate change have allowed mosquito populations to extend further northward in Europe, including disease-carrying species that were previously limited to regions closer to the equator.

For example, the Asian tiger mosquito is not native to Europe but has already been observed in much of southern and central Europe, including Germany.

Tiger mosquitos are particularly concerning because they are known to spread diseases such as dengue fever, chikungunya and Zika virus. Mass outbreaks of these infections have been rising globally. Last year local Dengue outbreaks were recorded in France, Italy and Spain.

With reporting by DPA

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