Weltgesundheitsorganisation berät

Experts are convinced that travelers will at least occasionally bring the new lung disease to Europe. The World Health Organization (WHO) had convened its emergency committee because of the lung disease. The experts advised on Wednesday. The EU Commission also planned a meeting to assess the risks from the new lung disease.

The WHO can declare an international health emergency and thus recommend stricter measures to combat the disease. When the Sars virus appeared in China more than 17 years ago, the WHO recommended measures such as fever measurements at airports in the affected region. This should be used to identify sick people and prevent them from traveling.

Systematic fever measurement at the airport is not effective
Even after the swine flu outbreak in 2009, the WHO recommended such measurements. However, researchers at the University of Perth in Australia concluded in a 2015 study that the measures were not effective. In Singapore, only 15 of 116 swine fever infections were found at the airport in 2009, and in Japan only 10 out of 151 travelers who later developed this type of flu were noticed. According to this, travelers can be infected and infect others before they develop symptoms such as fever
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin also said that there was no scientific evidence for the effectiveness of so-called entry screenings at airports, i.e. checks on entry. Exit screenings in areas particularly affected by a wave of diseases are useful. Wuhan has already introduced appropriate controls on departure.