In response to a recent uptick in cases of respiratory infection in China, five Republican senators, spearheaded by Marco Rubio, formally requested on Friday that President Joe Biden's administration prohibit travel between the United States and China, Reuters reported.
As the leading Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Rubio said in a letter that the US should immediately limit travel to China until more information on the risks of this new disease is known.
Mysterious Pneumonia Outbreak
Following last week's request for further data from China by the World Health Organization (WHO), which cited a study on clusters of children with undiagnosed pneumonia from the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases, the increase in cases quickly gained international attention.
Earlier this week, Maria Van Kerkhove, who is the interim head of the WHO's Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention, said that the increase seemed to be caused by a surge in the number of children getting harmful infections that they had managed to avoid during the two years of COVID-19 restrictions, including the flu, rhinoviruses, respiratory syncytial virus, and adenovirus.
Since the COVID-19 limits were loosened at the end of 2022, this is the first flu season in China.
A lack of exposure to common infections during the extended lockdown may have damaged the population's immunity, according to Chinese specialists.
There is already a fear among health experts that the mysterious pneumonia outbreak might spread to European cities. This health crisis might have a more severe impact on some regions than others.
Apparently, four major cities in Europe--Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, and Paris--may serve as the entrance sites for the new disease. These cities' airports are renowned for their vast worldwide links, so these sites will serve not only as transportation hubs but also as vectors for the transmission of respiratory illnesses.
Travels Between the US, China
According to Reuters, the number of flights between China and the US has been rising gradually in recent months, but it is still far lower than the levels seen in 2019. On November 9, the figure increased to 35 per week for each nation from 12 per week in August.
For reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic, former US President Donald Trump banned the entry of the majority of non-Americans who had spent the two weeks before January 2020 in China. But he did not ban or restrict flights between the two nations.
In November 2021, the US loosened its unprecedented restrictions on all overseas travelers who have received all recommended vaccines, including those from China. In June 2022, the US abolished a separate requirement that passengers test negative for the virus before they arrive.
Following Beijing's decision to ease up on its strict zero-COVID guidelines, the US began requiring flight passengers again to provide negative COVID test results in January. By March, the restrictions were eliminated.
