Workers packing alcohol disinfectant in a factory in Suining in southwest China’s Sichuan province.
Each of the 27 EU member states is responsible for its own decisions on imposing emergency measures like quarantine, tighter border controls or travel warnings. EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides stressed that member states had a “good level of preparedness” and refused to speculate about what might happen if the outbreak explodes to epidemic levels.
“And so far, as you know, only a few cases have been reported and confirmed in the EU. But of course we all know viruses know no borders,” she said. In addition to the medicines and active ingredients themselves, around 50% of the protective equipment used by medical professionals is imported from China.
According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Germany has seen 16 Covid-19 cases, France 11, Italy three, Spain two, and Belgium, Finland and Sweden one each.The situation is much more serious in China, where official figures indicate that 1,367 people have died and 60,000 been infected.