Govt moved immediately on new COVID situation says Meloni

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 29 - The government moved immediately on the new COVID-19 situation mandating tests for arrivals from China, and the situation is now under control, Premier Giorgia Meloni told her end-of-year press conference Thursday.
    However, she called for a decision on testing China arrivals to be "swiftly taken" also at the EU level.
    While the situation was currently under control, the premier said, tests and masks were still "useful".
    She said that of the first tests at Italian airports, "15 were of the Omicron variant, already present in Italy, and that should be quite comforting".
    Italy on Thursday became the first European country to officially start testing for COVID-19 among people arriving from China after Beijing's announcement it was set to open its borders as new variants of the coronavirus surge in the Asian country.
    One in two passengers arriving at Milan's Malpensa Airport are said to be positive for the virus, while testing started early Thursday at Rome's Fiumicino Airport too.
    There is global concern over new variants possibly spreading from China and several nearby countries have also started testing for COVID-19.
    Italy's premier infectious disease hospital, the Spallanzani Institute in Rome, on Thursday warned about the risks pose by new variants, with attention directed at a subvariant called Gryphon.
    Health Minister Orazio Schillaci is set to report to the Senate on Thursday afternoon, after the deputy minister with the brief for air transport, Galeazzo Bignami, said that "surveillance measures have been activated at air hubs, but EU action is needed for a more rapid response".
    He added: "The Italian government would like quarantine for all (those who test positive), we are asking our European partners for this and we'll see if it's possible, because there are various sensibilities".
    Bignami stressed "we don't want to repeat the mistakes of the past". (ANSA).