Health News Roundup: Italy wants EU to follow its lead on mandatory COVID tests for China arrivals; India to require COVID test for arrivals from China, four other Asian countries and more

Having imposed the world's strictest COVID regime of lockdowns and relentless testing for three years, China reversed course this month towards living with the virus, leaving its fragile health system overwhelmed. Analysis-China's COVID policymaking under scrutiny as infections soar After China scrapped three years of zero-COVID curbs in 30 days, setting off a massive wave of infections, Beijing's policymakers face an immense challenge to treat the sick and minimise deaths while winning back public trust dented by previous policies.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Italy wants EU to follow its lead on mandatory COVID tests for China arrivals

Italy expects and hopes that the European Union will follow its lead on imposing mandatory COVID tests for all passengers flying in from China, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Thursday. She said Italy's measures risked "not being fully effective" if not extended across the EU, and indicated that preliminary tests showed that COVID-positive travellers from China have already known Omicron variants.

India to require COVID test for arrivals from China, four other Asian countries

People arriving in India from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand will have to show a negative COVID-19 test from Sunday, India's health minister said. Travellers from those countries would have to upload their test result on an India government website before their departure, the minister, Mansukh Mandaviya, wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

China's vast countryside in rush to bolster COVID defences

China's thinly resourced countryside is racing to beef up medical facilities before millions of factory workers return home for the Lunar New Year holiday next month from cities where COVID-19 is surging. Having imposed the world's strictest COVID regime of lockdowns and relentless testing for three years, China reversed course this month towards living with the virus, leaving its fragile health system overwhelmed.

Analysis-China's COVID policymaking under scrutiny as infections soar

After China scrapped three years of zero-COVID curbs in 30 days, setting off a massive wave of infections, Beijing's policymakers face an immense challenge to treat the sick and minimise deaths while winning back public trust dented by previous policies. Scenes of overwhelmed hospitals, people on intravenous drips by the roadside and lines of hearses outside crematoria have fuelled public concern. An extraordinarily small number of reported fatalities - 10 deaths since the old policy regime was overturned on Dec. 7 - and a decision by authorities to stop publishing data on cases have also stoked distrust.

Hong Kong scraps most COVID rules, though masks still mandated

Hong Kong will cancel its stringent COVID-19 rules from Thursday, city leader John Lee said, meaning that arrivals will no longer need to do mandatory PCR tests while the city's vaccine pass would also be scrapped. All measures would be cancelled on Thursday, apart from the wearing of masks which still remains compulsory, Lee told a media briefing on Wednesday.

UK not planning COVID testing for travellers from China

Britain has no plans to bring back COVID-19 testing for those coming into the country, a government spokesperson said on Thursday, in contrast to a growing list of countries mandating tests for travellers from China. "There are no plans to re-introduce COVID-19 testing or additional requirements for arrivals into the UK," the spokesperson said when asked about a Telegraph report which said the government will consider curbs for arrivals from China.

Italy urges EU peers to test China arrivals for COVID, but many say 'no'

Italy on Thursday urged the rest of the European Union to follow its lead and test travellers from China for COVID, but others said they saw no need to do so for now or were waiting for a common stance across the largely border-less bloc. The EU's health officials could not agree on one course of action when they held talks in the morning and said they would continue their talks later.

Factbox-COVID rules for travellers from China around the world

Countries are imposing or considering imposing curbs on travellers from China amid a COVID-19 surge there after authorities relaxed "zero-COVID" rules. They cite a lack of information from China on variants and are concerned about a wave of infections. China has rejected criticism of its COVID data and said it expects future mutations to be potentially more transmissible but less severe.

Indian maker of syrup linked to Uzbekistan deaths halts production; facility inspected

India's drug regulator said on Thursday that it had inspected Marion Biotech's production facility and promised more action based on the probe report after the company's cough syrup was linked to death of 19 children in Uzbekistan. A legal representative of Marion Biotech said the Indian maker of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics regretted the deaths and the company has halted production of the Dok-1 Max syrup.

Pfizer's hemophilia B gene therapy succeeds in late-stage study

U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc said on Thursday its experimental gene therapy for the treatment of hemophilia B, a rare inherited blood disorder, met its main goal in a late-stage study. Data from the study showed that a single dose of the therapy was superior to the current standard of care in helping reduce the bleeding rate in patients with moderately severe to severe forms of hemophilia B.